david ryan at james kelly

Publication: Journal Santa Fe Section; Date: Apr 1, 2011; Section: Gallery Guide; Page: S8

‘SHA-ZAM!’ David Ryan’s reliefs combine Pop Art wallop, sophisticated complexities Art Issues

MALIN WILSON-POWELL

For the Journal

In his first solo show in Santa Fe, David Ryan’s eight wall reliefs fill and churn the space with an audible“SHA-ZAM!” They have a lot going for them. Not only are they successful hybrids of painting, sculpture,and drawing, they are thoroughly art-smart objects with new sensibilities, yet cognizant of multiplelegacies.

Ryan’s abstract, layered objects are not static shapes, rather they are 3-D manifestations of varyingvelocities of movement — gyrating ellipses, languorous loop-de-loops, sweeping curves, uneven wobbles,sharp blips, color zips. They have a centrifugal largesse that eats the space, yet they are centripetallybalanced by intersecting colors and shapes. It would be my guess that Ryan is an artist who listens tomusic while he works.

Ryan’s execution is impeccable and his colors run the gamut from Pop Art wallop, comic book brights, andHawaiian jungle flowers to the suave juxtaposition of matte and metallic black. While the artist buildsthese pieces like a sculptor, they arise out of drawings that he makes and transfers to digitally drivenlasers. The optical laser makes precise, sharp cuts following hand-drawn patterns into his materials ofchoice — either MDF for most of the pieces or Corafoam (much lighter material) for largescale work. Bothare ubiquitous sheets of material used in mass production, reliably flat and stackable.

Sophisticated complexities abound in the way Ryan orchestrates the interplay of lines, shapes, andshadows. All of the formal, perceptual play of both painting and sculpture are incorporated. Edges aresometimes left sharp and at other times sanded; gaps are razor-thin or may be gaping, to revealunderlying colors. Colors shift character, depending on their neighbors.

To get high-density, sumptuous color, Ryan uses layer-upon-layer of acrylic paint sprayed onto each planeof his puzzle pieces. There are many surprises in store for the inquiring mind and body. The outermostedges of three and four aligned, different layers of color are hard to resist, like the paint job on a new car.Fingers itch to run along the finely finished curves. Occasionally, sandwiched between the perfectly smoothprofile is a recessed black layer with an unexpected saw-tooth edge. Although Ryan relies predominatelyon the super-saturated velvety effect of matte colors, he occasionally slips a pearlescent additive into hismatte paints so they sparkle or shine. All of the works on view are recent, finished in 2010 and 2011, witha few of the 2011 pieces featuring line drawing sliced into areas of solid color. Notable 2011 pieces are“Hugger” and the very interesting diptych “Ultra & Neon,” a new complication for Ryan. Two amoebashapes — one white, one black — each with a central green “yolk” are connected by a swirling ellipsis oflines whose center is in the void, in the space in between.

The installation is hung so you can see a standard and jumbo variation of the same composition. Thesmaller version “FAC 501” (2010), is standout and followed the grand scale “Chumbley, Fass!”

‘SHA-ZAM!’ http://epaper.abqjournal.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=Ol...

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(2009-2010). As with so many of Ryan’s pieces, they use a brilliant white and a velvety black to float thework, to give them buoyancy and another snap of crispness.

There are so many venerable modernist predecessors for Ryan’s work — the biomorphic reliefs of JeanArp, the somber balance of John McLaughlin canvasses, and countless examples of LA Finish Fetish artists.However, Ryan’s current work immediately brought to mind the memorable juxtaposition of Ken Price’sceramic sculptures with Ellsworth Kelly paintings as installed at SITE Santa Fe’s 2001 “Beau Monde”exhibition. Positioned together in a large gallery by curator Dave Hickey, Kelly’s paintings becameanimated, even joyous in the presence of Price’s 3-D intense, molten bodies of color. The placement andcombination energized the viewer into roaming the room and seeing new aspects of these two masters ofcolor and placement. Ryan not only adroitly combines 2-D and 3-D, he sets viewers moving in ahide-and-seek, conceal/reveal exploration of his hybrids.

A native of Texas and graduate of University of Texas, Austin, Ryan today makes his home in Las Vegas,Nev., where he moved for graduate study with Dave Hickey and Libby Lumpkin during their tenure at theUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas. Many of their students have gone onto well-deserved art world careers.

Ryan had his first oneperson exhibition in 2003 at Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica, Calif., and he wasfeatured in two shows that celebrated the unlikely convergence of talent in Las Vegas, including “DavidRyan, Tim Bavington, Yek, Thomas Burke: Pop Abstraction in Las Vegas” (2006, Paris) and the travelingexhibition “Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from The Neon Homeland,” (2007-2008).

In recent years, Ryan’s numeric titles have given way to more whimsical and contingent references. “Lefton Pan Am Fwy,” 2010, was named for on-line driving instructions from Las Vegas through Albuquerque,where you turn left on the grandly named Pan American Freeway to reach Santa Fe.

Ryan’s mostly black painting, an elegant and cartoony combination that appears to sport little dog-ears istitled ‘Precious Lilywhite.” Could it be a pet’s name? Originally “white as a lily” was a phrase to connote aperson beyond reproach, but then it became a slang term for racial segregation. “Whites only” restrictionswere still practiced by many Texas municipalities as recently as 1971, Ryan’s year of birth. Or, maybe“Lilywhite” refers to Cat Steven’s 1970 song of that title. Multiple interpretations of Ryan’s titles suit thecomplex references of the work he makes.

The exhibition, too, has a title that is just as slip-slidey and certainly a bit tonguein-cheek. Called“Glitches and Fixes,” while Ryan may incorporate many surprises in the process of making his work, whathe shows the viewer are astute, precise objects brimming with abundant pleasures. If you go

WHAT: David Ryan: “Glitches & Fixes”

WHERE: James Kelly Contemporary, 1601 Paseo de Peralta

WHEN: Through May 7. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, noon-5 p.m.

CONTACT: 505 989-1601


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COURTESY JAMES KELLY CONTEMPORARY

“Ultra and Neon” is a 2011 acrylic on MDF diptych by David Ryan.


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“Hugger” is a 2011 acrylic on MDF painted wall relief by David Ryan.


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“Precious Lilywhite” is a 2011 acrylic on MDF painted wall relief by David Ryan.

“Left on Pan Am Fwy” is a 2010 acrylic on MDF painted wall relief by David Ryan.


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david ryan at james kelly

Documents

way ryan

pieces arehugger

puzzle pieces

intersecting colors

revealunderlying colors

pop art wallop

david ryans reliefs

artist buildsthese pieces