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TIME IS ONLY AN EQUATION ILLUSIONS CAUSE US TO PERCEIVE OTHERWISE.

The view from Spooksvilla on east ninth street includes an old apartment building, some of Veselka’s dining tables, and an ancient door covered in street art tags that will be gone by the time this is published. It was on that ancient door that Tyme, the wholesome and innocuous time-traveling alien, was pasted on, calling for my attention.

This was a product of Tyme Creations.

Tyme introduces himself just outside a café in the Lower East Side. Though we’ve never met in person, it’s clear when he approaches who he is, as his general aura is one of passion and gentleness that many Pisces have mastered.

We set off down the street to find a place less crowded, and once we’ve sat, I ask just exactly who - or what - Tyme is.

Tyme: Tyme Creations is essentially a time traveling alien sent from different universes that goes on fixing sad, broken planets struggling in society. It started with me having a serious belief in ET life. Not necessarily aliens, [just] anything not from this earth. Space is big, so for people to not believe in other life is…small minded. When the government came out and was like, “yes there are aliens,” it was a big drive for me. I got overwhelmed, tears, I just knew this wasn’t bullshit. I’m big on conspiracies. In order for me to believe a conspiracy, it needs science behind it. It can’t go off on these crazy notions. Some theories are just bullshit.

“How do you feel about the illuminati?”

Tyme: That’s a tough one. Because who are they? What do you need world meetings for? I don’t have any true belief in it.

“What are your favorite conspiracy theories? What do you abide by as truth?”

Tyme laughs: Well, time travel and aliens, but there’s one my coworker was telling me about. Basically, in Antartica, there’s a tunnel they’ve dug they don’t want anyone knowing about. That’s why there’s so many military bases out there. Some suspect lizard people, I don’t know. But I do wonder why military bases? It’s very interesting.

“What about the monsters?”

Tyme: I don’t really believe in Bigfoot.

Tyme is from Wisconsin, a place he describes as a conservative hotspot. He left just six months ago before landing in New York.

Tyme: Last year, I visited and put up a lot of Tyme stickers. All the stuff you’ve seen. I was going to move to L.A., but my girlfriend moved to Texas to work with exotic animals. I had more connections in New York, which she didn’t want to move to, but I did. I was like, “I guess I’ll follow my dreams, too.”

“What’s your zodiac sign?”

Tyme: I’m a Pisces. Something I like and dislike at the same time.

Tyme is dressed in black and white. His stylistic handlebar mustache sits under his black bucket hat, and when he talks about nearly anything there’s a patience in his voice, a softness that most people have trouble articulating.

“Pisces are very intuitive, in touch with their feelings…”

Tyme: Which I dislike sometimes. The emotions can get the best of me. A lot of the art I make is in spite of things. When the riots were happening and the cops were being violent, I made Courage the Cowardly Cop. My emotions drive it. The big thing with Tyme is about bringing people together. Unity over judging people from the start. Everyone has an intellect you don’t even know exists. It’s about accepting everyone like you’d accept your best friend.

“Have you always thought like this?”

Tyme: It’s something I had to learn. Growing up, I was in the douchey jock group and my point of view was narrow. As I graduated high school and moved away from everybody, I started finding myself and how I actually view people, my morals, my right and wrong. I questioned why we act the way we do. It’s definitely something I had to learn.

Is there anything you hate being asked?”

Tyme: The one thing that always gets to me is “how long did it take you to make this?” There’s so much that goes into it: conceptualizing, actually making it…what do you say? What do you count? Hour wise? Day wise?

“Why do you think they ask that?” Tyme: A lot of it is trying to figure out your skill, and they’re trying to justify the price. My favorite thing is when Picasso was asked for art and he drew on a napkin and charged her all this money. He was like, “you could ask anyone to do this but they wouldn’t be able to because it took me thirty years to do this.” Basically saying this napkin was a [result] of years of work.

“Do you have any favorite artists?”

Tyme: Alive, I’d say Shepard Fairey and Cause.

The way Tyme categorizes his influences are very clean and direct. Alive, not alive. He's quick-thinking and organized: black and white in ways that oppose his grey thinking.

Tyme continues: Those are my biggest inspirations. Deceased? Keith Harring’s simplicity, Basquiat’s originality…Van Gogh is a hit or miss for me. I liked that he made art even if people didn’t like it.

“What about favorite questions?”

Tyme: Oh! I love “what inspires you?” or when I’m asked about what 4 4 4 means.

Character growth is the driving force behind everything: art, work, living. A condition of being alive is constant change, a condition that became a tool to Tyme during a transitional period.

But how does he navigate them?

“What does 4 4 4 mean?” I finally ask.

Tyme: Essentially, you’re being guided divinely. It’s okay. You’re not alone in the face of big changes. Repetition of numbers means different things from one to nine. Following those [ideas] essentially leads you through life, guides you through situations. It’s very personal. I started picking up on it in college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I was studying design illustration. So like, I picked up the design aspect, because you can make anything with a solid design. A really good artist can have poor designs. But I never liked designing for other people, it was draining and not inspirational to me. So, I was going through a tough time trying to figure out if I was going to toss this degree and go into business or something, and I started seeing 4 4 4 everywhere. This was also when I was going through the whole theoretical theory of time travel, aliens, and bringing this to the world to wake people up and say: there’s so much to this world you don’t know. Finally, I stumbled upon Tyme. And I was like “I’m gonna put this up in the streets.” I went to design and illustration knowing I wanted to follow Shepherd Fairey’s footsteps. I always knew I’d be a street artist. Myself, my art is not good enough to just be put up in galleries. But if they see it on the streets over and over again, and they receive the message, it becomes a whole new thing.

The conception of Tyme was fairly simple: it was Tyme holding his alarm clock that read 4:44. It was a call to the world: to wake up and see everything for what it is. He’s been drawing Tyme for five years and putting him up on the streets for three.

We were talking about generational art and the waves of artists that influence, form, and shape New York City every decade when I asked: “What is the relationship between Tyme Creations and New York City?”

Tyme: I wouldn’t say there’s a relationship between the two, because I’ve traveled and put him up everywhere.

He pauses.

Tyme: I lived in Wisconsin for a year and half. I was doing street art in this small town, not a lot of people were. I would just be wheatpasting, and it caught on really fast. People started not liking my work, then they didn’t like the messages, they tried to hunt me down…it was crazy.

I had to block a lot of people. I just wanted to keep making art, and I was like, you guys are taking this to a whole nother level of graffiti and vandalism. Wisconsinites are very like “no, no, no.”

So I wanted to go to a bigger city. New York, L.A…New York is so big, there’s endless spots to hit. It’s a giant playground and I can have so much fun.

“Chris Chance says that New York City is the hardest server of the game, but still the best server that there is.”

Tyme: That’s a good way to put it. It’s a beautiful struggle. One week you’ll be done and the next you’ll be hosting a show. If you don’t want it, it’ll tear you apart super fast. But if you want it, it’s there for you.

“Life comes at you fast. But a bit faster in New York.”

Tyme: Exactly.

Some of Tyme’s favorite areas of the city are the Lower East Side. He struggles with getting his friends to join him in his favorite spots: LES, East Brooklyn. He admits they stay in the SoHo and Bowery area, but knows there’s so much opportunity to throw up Tyme Creations art in Alphabet City.

Tyme: I wouldn’t be living in New York if it wasn’t for my friend Miyok. I couldn’t afford to live out here by myself, that’s why my girlfriend and I were moving. So I texted him, and was like, hey, I want to get out to New York and I need to find a place, get myself situated. He got me a room and I’ve been living there since. And then the same Miyok was like “hey, I know you’re really educated in print, my buddy owns a print shop, I can get you a job down here too.” So if it wasn’t for Miyok I wouldn’t be here. Super grateful.

When we pivot into music, Tyme describes his music taste as wide-ranged: from classical to grunge to garage band.

Tyme: Now I’m into hip-hop, punk, garage. My range is from classical to heavy metal. It’s based on how I’m feeling. I really like anything, but right now it’s just punk and hip-hop.

“Who are your favorite rappers?”

Tyme: Oh, anyone 90’s underground rapper.

Tyme and I brainstorm over why New York today is so similar to the New York of the 90’s: the fashion, the attitude, the art. Tyme leans back in his seat as he starts to talk about the Mayan invention of the calendar: a topic he was quizzed on in the fifth grade, and a topic he once believed involved aliens.

Tyme: 2012, the world was supposed to end. Scientists were working on this project where they’d crash two atoms together, a project other scientists didn’t want to see through because they thought the world would fucking explode. Breaking one atom would crumble everything. So when they [went through with the project,]

our universe could have been sucked up and dropped in a whole other timeline we’re not aware of. So our world may have ended in 2012, and we’re just carrying on whatever they destroyed. It’s very weird.

Conspiracy seems to be an understatement for the cases Tyme describes. They’re rich with ideas and mystery, a formula reflective in his art, primarily in his use of numerology.

“What does numerology say about the number 7?”

Tyme: Well, there’s a street artist. Her name is 7. I’ve always associated the number with luck, but I haven’t read much about it outside of it.

He shows me a numerical tattoo: a set of three 4’s that also look like the number 1 that also look like the number 7. The St. Vincent lyric “entombed in a shrine of zeros and ones” comes to mind and I jot it down on the corner of my notes.

“Have you ever been told something about your art that you really liked?”

Tyme: I had this comment about the highlights in the eyes I draw. Cause I was wondering how can I add more realism without breaking any of my simplistic rules? So I just did the highlights, someone said they liked them, that they were dynamic, and I really appreciated it.

“How do you feel about the phrase ‘everything happens for a reason?’”

Tyme: I’m a big, firm believer in that. I feel like it's a big drive behind numerology and “time is only an equation illusions cause us to perceive otherwise.” Basically, there’s a numerical equation behind everything that happens. The theory of 3-6-9 is basically a path. A path you can change at any time. So yeah, it’s true that everything happens for a reason, but it’s also a weird statement.

We’re sitting outside of a bar in October, just before Halloween and just before it’s too cold to sit outside. Bachata is playing on nearby speakers, joined with the sound of whistle blowing and mass cheering from the football game on TV. When I instinctively check the time, it reads 4:44.

“How do we make art accessible to more people?”

Tyme: What do you mean by accessible?

“So people have more opportunities to make, talk, or think about art.”

Tyme: It’s tough. I feel like the only thing you can do is put it up in the streets illegally. Which is really like, how I knew I had to be a street artist. If I wanted to be an artist and get into magazines and do collabs with skate companies I couldn’t just…draw Tyme and be like “hey, let’s do something.” They wouldn’t want it because it’s not known, so it won’t be sold. It’s tough. It’s really tough. Everyone has their own story and path.

“Do you have any burning questions you have about any topic you’d want answered concretely?”

Tyme: A lot of the scientific work at Area 51 would be really cool. I do believe they’ve found a lot of answers that could advance society, which can be scary, but very much so needed.

“Is there any message you want to share with the world?”

Tyme: That there’s a lot of truth that we don’t know exists. That through my art, I’m trying to wake people up from living this suppressed life of [people] telling us what to do, living this cycle every day until we die…it’s very boring. The truth is being hidden.

Tyme Creations is an evolving body of work. Through a series of growth and critical thinking, it seems now that Tyme’s street art, simple but dressed in the complexity of numerology and alien theory, has found its home throughout New York City.