Tyrone Maurice Adderley was a Painting major at Massachusetts College of Art and Design from 1990 to 1993. He had relocated to Boston from the Bahamas in the Caribbean and begun studying at the College, at age twenty-seven, in 1989. Tyrone arrived to MassArt with a sophisticated interest in studying Fashion. Upon his enrollment at the College, he was already thinking about the interconnectivity between fashion, rapidly changing technologies around the world, global politics, and multiculturalism. “Fashion,” he once declared, “has always been a mirror of the times.” Tyrone’s own times were of serious interest to him, as was his interest in determining how he himself could best contribute to them. Underscoring these interests, while expressing the empathy he felt for his fellow human beings, he wrotethe following: “I would like to be able to give something back, or contribute in some small way to the betterment of my fellow men, especially those less fortunate than I am.”

Notwithstanding Tyrone’s developed understanding of Fashion when he began studying at the College during the fall of 1989, he declared himself a Painting major the following semester. He went on to study with Professors Dan Kelleher and Rob Moore—both of them abstract painters—during his second and third years of study, respectively. Sadly, Tyrone took his own life before entering his senior year. Inresponse to his passing, and to the perceived need that MassArt must commit more “to increasing its recognition of multiple viewpoints and the presentation of artists outside the mainstream,” the annual Adderley lecture, named in Tyrone’s honor, was founded in 1995, two years after his death.

For the occasion of MassArt’s 150 th Anniversary, the Fine Arts 2D department wanted to celebrate this popular, empathic, thoughtful young artist, with an exhibition showcasing Tyrone’s own artwork. FA2D played a formative role in the inception and legacy of the annual Adderley Lecture Series. This exhibition celebrates the work of the young artist himself, “in his own terms,” through his paintings. Outside the private collections where these large-scale paintings reside, they have remained largely unseen. In several regards, this exhibit is a celebratory occasion.

FA2D’s Adderley exhibit will hang in the lobby of the Tower 1 Gallery, just outside Tower Auditorium where the annual Adderley lecture is given.

Join us for a Reception after the Adderley Lecture on Tues, November 7, at  7:30pm, in the DMC Atrium. 
Click here to register.
 

Learn more about the Tyrone Maurice Adderley Series.