Born and raised in Kansas City, Troy Tatzko’s creative talents became apparent when he was only four years old. He started drawing at that age, but it wasn’t long before he moved on to painting with oils and acrylics. Tatzko currently lives in Los Angeles, where he has been studying under the admired artist Carol Bishop at Los Angeles Valley College.

In his creative process, Tatzko attempts to find the balance between expressive and disciplined, deliberate, and free. This balance is often inspired by many artists with a wide range of styles, some of which are very free and abstract, and some of which are controlled and exacting. These include artistic luminaries such as Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Cezanne, De Kooning, Pollock, Franz Kline, Darren Waterston, and Robert Irwin. Despite deeply admiring and being inspired by these artists, Tatzko also revels in his own methods of expression, since he believes that “Art is personal. One of the things that we do as humans is perceive, experience, and feel things in ways that are individually unique.”