Warren Hynson’s professional art career began in an unlikely place—prison. He is best know for his brightly-colored, abstract and expressionistic paintings. He’s had solo shows and the Maryland Institute College of Art, all while still in prison.

Like any other child aspiring to be an artist, Hynson’s art musings started with school field trips to art museums. By high school, Hynson was vice president of the art club at Washington & Lee High School in Montross, Virginia. With encouragement from his favorite teacher, Mrs. Holly Ransone, Hynson decided he wanted to go to art school and become an artist.

But his dad thought the military was best. Warren rebelled, left his father’s house and moved to Maryland to live with his mother. Like any other teenager struggling to fit into and find their way in a new environment, Hynson gravitated toward drugs, alchohol, and the “wrong crowd” to cope with his new found anxiety and depression. Eventually, Hynson dropped out of high school, and soon after, his mother kicked him out of the house. A displaced teenager, Hynson soon met an inevitable fate: caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

On June 27, 1991, when Hynson was seventeen, he was involved in a burglary gone wrong. Hynson was shot point blank with a 12-guage shotgon and knocked unconscious when the fatal bullets were fired, killing victim, John Milton Branch. In the state of Maryland, it does not matter who pulled the trigger, everyone involved is guilty. Hynson was sentenced to Natural Life plus five years.

Hynson struggled in prison, battling depression and suicidal thoughts. Eventually, he met other artists in prison and became inspired again. In 2001, the same judge who sentenced Warren reduced his sentence, and he came home on September 24, 2019.

Hynson uses his artwork to tell his story—all of it, the pain, struggle, his fears, enlightenment, and ultimately, his growth. Ultimately, he wants patrons to know that no matter how dark it is, there is always a spark of light to focus on. Today, he commits his life to painting, guiding struggling youth, and fighting to change laws so more young people don't go through what he did.