After a couple of years of college, Tulis joined the United States Army. After the army he put all of his time and efforts into his art. In 1985 he was able to open his first studio and that same year was asked to do his first exhibition.
Work
In "The South by Its Photographers" curated by Ellen Fleurov, Tulis' work was included with many other Southern artists including Shelby Lee Adams, Walter Beckham, Debbie Fleming Caffery, William Christenberry, Chip Cooper, William Greiner, Birney Imes and Melissa Springer among others. This exhibition traveled from the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama to Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina and the Louisiana Center for Arts and Sciences Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This became an auspicious exhibition that spurred the careers of many of these Southern photographers. This exhibition was also made into a book by Susan Sipple Elliott, with an introduction by John E. Schloder, "The South by Its Photographers."
In 2003, Tulis was chosen to be part of Wait Until Dark along with Lewis Baltz, Harvey Caplin, Todd Hido, David Leventhal, William Greiner, Michael Kenna, O. Winston Link, Richard Misrach, Jules Shulman, George Tice and Henry Wessel, Jr. The exhibition took place at The Williams College Museum of Art, Fresno, California. The photographers for this exhibit were selected from the photography collection of Jay Richard DiBiaso.
In June 2002, Tulis work was selected to be part of "House: Ten Artists Photograph Domestic Architecture," an exhibit curated by Carol John at ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art. Evie McKenna, Rinnie Allen, Michael Stipe, Carl Martin, and Mark Steinmetz were also included in this exhibition.
In 2004, Tulis work was chosen to be part of "So Atlanta: Artists Respond to the Contemporary City" curated by Felicia Feaster and Helena Reckitt. The exhibition also included the work of Karen Rich Beall, Sarah Doughrety, Samm Hill, Ron Jude and Ohm Phanphiroj among others.
He has also shown at The Contemporary in Atlanta.
Tulis was represented by Agnes having had two solo and several group exhibitions there. Tulis was Agnes second solo exhibition.
His work has been covered by Frank151, Creative Loafing, American Photography, Aperture,Image Geek, ShotsMag, The Sun, Oxford American and Viewfinder.
Tulis exhibited the now infamous, experimental art space Neo-Post-Now Gallery from 1992 to 1997. The gallery was located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and also exhibited the work of Matt Fink, Brett Hanson, Jimmy von Milwaukee, Eric Lunde, Alan Luft, Nigel, Lamar Sorrento, James Stark, and Bob Watt among many others.
His work is in numerous collections throughout the United States and Europe such as the Milwaukee Art Museum, Mint Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Orlando Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art as well as the New York Public Library.
In 1997, Tulis was Artist in Residence at Pouch Cove Foundation located near St. John's, the capital of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a self-sustaining, not for profit art retreat.
Quotes
Two hundred and fifty images laid before me and I was enthralled. They were perfect. I wished I used more of them. The photography brought a sense of presence, of immediacy and of realism to a space that I knew would soon be awash in metaphors within a visionary frame. -Steven Guynup
Books
Explorations: 10 Portfolios, Aperture No. 130, Winter 1993, The Aperture Foundation, 1993. ISBN 0-89381-529-2
The South By Its Photographers, Photographic images by forty-eight of the South's best photographers by Susan Sipple Elliott, introduction by John E. Schloder, University Press of Mississippi, 68pgs. ISBN 0-87805-954-7
New Life: Stories and Photographs from the Suburban South by Alex Harris 249pgs. W. W. Horton, 1996 ISBN 0-393-04030-5 and ISBN 978-0-393-04030-2
