You might not know Tysen Knight’s name, but chances are you’ve seen his distinctive work—like the colorful benches located on Palm Canyon Drive and Museum Way in downtown Palm Springs.
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Knight moved with his family to New Jersey when he was just 5 years old. His interest in art began early, and his work was quickly recognized—with him winning the NAACP ACT-SO Achievement Program Award of Merit at the age of 15. Knight’s winning art piece? A painting of an African queen.
While many families at the time were pushing kids to attend college, Knight decided that was not his path. His high school offered cosmetology as an elective, and upon graduation, he became a licensed barber. He enjoyed the artistic aspects of cutting hair, and it gave him a successful career for 20 years; he even went to the Super Bowl and cut hair for the Philadelphia Eagles. He also used his barber skills on movie sets and music videos, and was occasionally tapped to be on camera as well. It kept him on what he calls the “fringes of creativity”—but his paint brush was never far away.
In 2011, Knight was working at a hip Los Angeles spot called Legends, on Fairfax Avenue near Melrose Avenue, when a friend suggested he move to Palm Springs. He did—but he soon discovered that barber jobs were in short supply, so he dove into his art. His savings covered the rent of a small apartment. Every day, he’d wake up and sketch on a pad he bought at Walmart. Knight purchased old, inexpensive paintings people had donated to Goodwill and Angel View, refurbished the frames, and replaced the art with his own sketches. He then approached local consignment shops with this work. Things began selling, which kept him afloat (along with savings) for about four years. Then in 2015, Knight landed a lucrative job at a barbershop.
In 2016, he had the idea to create a documentary short film about street artists in Palm Springs; the result was The Art of Hustle: Street Art Documentary. A last-minute addition to the film, Skratch, introduced Knight to the world of homeless artists, which led to his second documentary, The Art of Hustle: Homeless Street Artist Documentary. Both films have won multiple awards.
Though homeless folks can be very guarded and suspicious of strangers, Knight approached them as one creative person to another. He found his Sacramento-based film editor online on Thumbtack; all their work and communication has been virtual, and despite never having met in person, the two have become very good friends. Knight said there were a lot of synchronicities once he had a “crazy idea” to make films: Everything just seemed to fall into place.
Teddy Grouya, head of the AmDocs Film Festival at the Palm Springs Cultural Center each spring, included Knight’s film on street art in 2018, and his documentary on homeless artists in 2019. Russell Pritchard, then the chair of the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission, saw the films and reached out to Knight on Facebook. That led to the colorful benches and murals Knight has created throughout the city.
A third documentary film, called The Tysen Knight Experience—The Art of Manifestation and Purpose, is now in the works. This time, it’s a family affair: Knight’s parents are featured in the film, and his 28-year-old son, a filmmaker, is handling the editing duties.
The film recounts the story of when Knight’s folks first took him to an art show, at the age of 10. It featured pieces by a well-known African-American artist named Ernie Barnes, whose work was seen on the television show Good Times. Young Tysen was transfixed by a particular painting, and was insistent that his parents purchase it. Though his folks were at first put off by the $300-plus price tag, they saw how obsessed their son was with it, and somehow knew it was going to be a key to his future. They broke down and bought it—and the rest is history.
I asked him about the obstacles he’s faced.
“The biggest obstacle I’ve faced in my career is just getting people to recognize my work,” he said. “There weren’t many successful African Americans in the art world when I started, so race was occasionally an issue. I’ve also found that people like their artists to be ‘home-grown,’ and since I’m from the East Coast, that was a problem. I just put blinders on and forged ahead.”
Knight loves to host live paint-by-number art events in the community. Each participant is given paper with the outline of the picture—say, a vase of flowers; they then paint in the picture with the colors of their choosing. He’s done these for many events, for Variety Children’s Charity of the Desert, Taste of Tennis in Indian Wells, and public schools. An art-collector friend of Knight’s has arranged for him to soon travel to Belize to paint with children there.
Knight is a life-long Buddhist. His philosophy is simple: “When a project falls through, or negative thoughts pop into my head, I take a moment to figure out how I can put it all into a positive space. One of my favorite quotes is: ‘Energy is never lost; it’s only transferred.’”
Now 48, Knight said he sometimes thinks it would have been fun to have been born about 10 years earlier, so that he could have experienced the New York art scene in the days of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In those days, there were no social-media platforms; artists had to really be “out there” to get noticed by the main-stream community.
Knight describes his style as a mixture of pop art, fine art and street art—or, as he calls it, “pop urban art.” With his career thriving, he said his main goal now is to help others, especially young people, discover the artist in themselves. He’s started the Tysen Knight Scholarship Fund, which awards $500 to $1,000 toward college or art school.
As a pop urban artist, a documentary filmmaker, a father of two, a teacher and a humanitarian, Knight is definitely someone to know. His mantra is simple: “Be inspired.”
For more information about Tysen Knight, visit www.tysenknight.com.
Bonnie Gilgallon hosts a weekly podcast called The Desert Scene, available at radio111.com/the-desert-scene.html. She also writes theater reviews for the Independent. Email her at bonniegnews@gmail.com.