ryan s. brown

M A S T E R O F R E A L I S M

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RYAN S. BROWN A V A I L A B L E W O R K S O F

Compelling Provenance Rarity Beauty & Historical Significance

3 Biography 4 The Loneliness of Waiting 6 Kaaterskill Clove 8 A Painter’s Inspiration 10 Framer’s Notes 13 Exhibitions of Note 16 About M Gallery

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N : 1 8 4 3 7 2 7 4 5 0 0

Ryan S. Brown was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2002 he graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Brigham Young University. Ryan furthered his education by attending the Florence Academy of Art (FAA) in Florence, Italy beginning in 2003. That same year he returned home, putting his studies on hold, and began producing work for galleries. He also started teaching academic principles at BYU and UVU, teaching fig-ure drawing, observational and spatial drawing and cast drawing. Ryan taught at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art sporadically between 2004 and 2006, culminating in an aca-demic drawing workshop given in 2006. An article in Ameri-can Artist Workshop Magazine in the Winter 2006 issue covered this workshop. Additionally, Ryan opened his studio to students, establish-ing the Classical Drawing Academy (CDA) in Springville, Utah. Within a three year period (2003-2006), the CDA saw more than 80 students come through its studio to study pri-vately and experience this training. As his students pro-gressed, however, Ryan began to become more aware of the incompleteness of his own training. He began to feel that his knowledge was inadequate to help take these students where they ultimately wished to go in their work. And with this perspective, he began to also see the deficiencies in his own work; deficiencies he knew could be overcome by com-pleting his studies at the Florence Academy. With this in mind, Ryan, with his wife and children, moved back to Florence, Italy in 2007 in order to finish his studies at the Florence Academy of Art. He graduated from the FAA in 2008 winning “Painting of the Year”. Continued on Page 12

B I O G R A P H Y

M G A L L E R Y O F F I N E A R T S E L L C


The Loneliness Of Waiting The idea for this painting came at a time when I was experiencing some frustration with some goals I had set for myself that relied on other people to help them come to fruition. I felt I had done as much as I could to achieve the goals and I was left waiting to see if my efforts would yield the hoped for results. That is not a comfortable position for me to be in. During this time I made attempts to voice this frustration to a few friends and fam-ily, only to realize that it was impossible to explain to them what I was feeling. The thought came to me how lonely it can be to wait for things. In my case, the realization of goals. But for others it could be news from family, acceptance into school, a phone call from someone you love, etc. So I hired this model, who always had so much expression in her face, and we searched around Florence together for the right setting to stage this painting. We settled on this spot in front of Casa di Dante in the heart of Florence. It was the perfect setting to isolate her and narrate that lonely sense. The old well anchored the painting per-fectly and the mass of empty space around her isolated her in just the right way. And of course the emotion in her face was exactly what I was looking for.

The Loneliness Of Waiting

Oil on Linen 40 Inches High 70 Inches Wide



Kaaterskill Clove, Catskills, New York The idea for this painting began the first year I was awarded the Hudson River School Fellowship to paint for one month in the Catskills. I have always loved the grandeur and refinement of the Hudson River School painters, so to paint in some of the same lo-cations as these painters was a real honor. I spent that summer studying different locations and trying to find areas that resonated with me. I settled on a spot in Kaater-skill Clove looking upstream. I did a number of studies at this site of specific details of the greater scene. The next summer I went back and spent another 3 weeks making more studies at the same site. Once back in the stu-dio, I compiled all the studies into a final compositional sketch. The composition is not a portrait of the scene, but a compilation of many elements in and around Kaaterskill Clove that give a broader view of the area. The process of making this painting has helped me tie myself to the traditions and ideals of the original Hudson River School painters in a way that I don’t think I could have otherwise achieved. It is my hope that viewers will get a similar sense of awe and respect for nature when viewing this piece as I felt when I was there.

Kaaterskill Clove, Catskills, New York



A Painter’s Inspiration This painting began on a trip I made with one of my best friends, the painter Jordan Sokol and our friend Costanza Papasogli-Tacca. We drove out to a location just outside of Pisa near the Mediterranean coast to paint some fishing shacks in the country. I was painting a study very similar to Jordan who was standing in front of me. For both of us, the act of painting en plein air is inspi-rational in a number of ways. In particular it helps us understand nature better. Each study from nature fills our store of knowledge all the more with the way things look and feel. This knowledge helps when back in the studio creating larger works composed from these studies or imagination. Studying na-ture also helps in coming to understand what it is that I am most moved by. That translates into my constantly maturing ability to develop works that reflect myself all the more, and therefore com-municate better to a larger audience. This is a narrative about these moments of inspiration and discov-ery. Painting en plein air can seem like a simple practice on the surface, but it is a much deeper exercise for me. This painting places a painter in the context and surroundings where he will potentially find his greatest inspiration. These developmental practices, or the preliminary exercises are perhaps the most im-portant steps in the process of making a painting. It is important for me to help people understand what goes into creating works of art. The entire process is vital and exciting. This painting helps narrate the beginning and the foundation for creating lasting works of beauty.


A Painter’s Inspiration




Rett Ashby Master Framer

Framer’s Notes

The Loneliness of Waiting In working with Ryan on this, he wanted a strong frame but still more simple than his usual frame. This bold simplicity was in keeping with the lonely and isolated feel in his painting. Ryan designed a more delicate raised sgraffito for the corners of the frame with a warm umber painted panel. He wanted to use a warmer 22k gold on the frame to enhance the subtle warm tones of the work.

Kaaterskill Clove, Catskills, New York Because this painting harks back to the tradition of the Hudson River School painters, Ryan wanted a traditional look. He chose a classical American scoop profile finished in 22k gold which really capped the classical look of the painting. The frame is almost a foot wide which is in keeping with the monumental size of the painting.

A Painter’s Inspiration Ryan uses the Florentine profile frame a lot with his work. With this one we had to remake this profile much larger for this large work. Ryan designed another raised sgraffito for this painting, an elegant design that I think works perfectly with the paint-ing. I think the wider panel and simpler look of this frame works very well with the plein air feel and subject matter of the work. This frame balances very well both the old world classical tra-dition with a more contempo-rary feel which compliments perfectly the same qualities evi-dent in Ryan’s work.


Continued from Page 4 Ryan S. Brown is living and working again in Utah. He has established the Center for Academic Study & Naturalist Painting (CAS), a school firmly rooted in the classical and naturalist ideals of the nineteenth century. Ryan is the direc-tor of this school and its main instructor. Ryan was the top award winner of the John F. and Anna Lee Stacey scholarship in 2004. He also received third place in the Art Renewal Scholarship competition in 2005. In 2006 Ryan was one of ten artists to be invited by American Artist Magazine to the Forbes Trinchera Ranch for a ten-day re-treat that was followed by a special article in the magazine and a showing of these select artist’s works at the Forbes Gallery in New York in March, 2007. Ryan also won a Fellowship to the Hudson River School for Landscape in its inaugural year, which he attended in the summer of 2007, and again in 2008. In 2007 Ryan also won Fourth Place in the Art Renewal Center Scholarship Compe-tition. Ryan was featured in the May, 2008 issue of Southwest Art as “A Rising Artist to Watch”. Ryan won the “Best Painting of the Year” at the Florence Academy of Art in 2008 as well as the President’s award. In 2010 Ryan won an Award of Ex-ceptional Merit at the 2010 International Portrait Competi-tion. Ryan has recently been on the faculty of the First An-nual Plein Air Conference in Las Vegas in 2012, as well as the Portrait Society of America Conference in Philadelphia in 2012.


Exhibitions of Note 2004- Anniversary Exhibition at the Century Gallery in Alex-andria, Virginia 2004- Summer Salon at the Wendt Gallery in Laguna Beach, California 2004- Spring Salon at the Springville Museum of Art in Spring-ville, Utah 2005- Young Up and Coming Artists Show at the Wendt Gal-lery, Laguna Beach, California 2005- Ryan’s work was published in two „How To‟ books en-titled “100 Ways to Paint the Landscape” and “100 Ways to Paint the Figure” 2005- Group Exhibition at the Century Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia 2005- Spring Salon at the Springville Museum of Art, Spring-ville, Utah 2005- Grand Opening Exhibition at Astoria Fine Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming 2005- Published in the book How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Seascapes 2005- Published in the book How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint the Figure 2005- Academic Exhibition at the Springville Museum of Art, Springville, Utah 2006- Summer Salon at the Wendt Gallery, Laguna Beach, California 2006- Annual Religious Exhibition at the Springville Museum of Art, Springville, Utah 2006- Cover Article in the Deseret News featuring Ryan‟s Classical Drawing Academy 2006- Group Exhibition at Astoria Fine Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming 2006- October feature article in American Art Collector Magazine 2006- Winter Exhibition at the Century Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia 2006- American Artists Workshop Magazine article covering Ryan‟s workshop held at the Los Angeles Academy of Figura-tive Art 2006- Published in the book, Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing


2007- Group Exhibition at the Forbes Galleries in New York, New York 2007- Group Exhibition at W. H. Patterson Galleries in Lon-don 2007- Group Exhibition at Principle Gallery, Alexandria, Vir-ginia 2007- One-Man Show at Astoria Fine Art, Jackson Hole, Wyo-ming 2007- Summer Salon at Wendt Gallery, Laguna Beach, Califor-nia 2007- Great American Figurative Artists Show at the Water-house Gallery in Santa Barbara, California 2007- Armory Show, New York, New York 2007- Group Article covering the inaugural year of the Hud-son River School for Landscape in the winter issue of American Artist Workshop Magazine 2007- Second Place Winner in The Artist Magazine Annual Land-scape competition, as well as two other Finalist awards 2007- Ryan‟s work was published in the December issue of The Artist Magazine 2008-Ryan was published as an “Artist to Watch” in the May issue of Southwest Art Magazine 2008- December Exhibition at the Principle Gallery, Alexan-dria, Virginia 2008- December Exhibition at Anderson Fine Art, St. Simons Island, Georgia 2008- December Exhibition at Gallery Mar, Park City, Utah 2009- Florence Academy of Art Alumni Exhibition. Florence, Italy 2009- Presidents Award for painting of “Nestor” at the FAA Alumni Exhibition 2009- Art Hamptons Group Exhibition 2009- “Immortal Works” Figure Exhibition at VasaKonsthall, Sweden 2009- Hudson River Revival at the Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT 2010- Ryan won an Award of Exceptional Merit at the Portrait Society of America 2010- One Man Exhibition at Astoria Fine Art in Jackson Wyoming


2010- Finalist in the Art Renewal Center Salon Figurative cate-gory 2010- Finalist in the Art Renewal Center Salon Landscape category 2010- Award of Merit at the Springville Museum of Art Annual Salon 2011- Award of Merit at the Springville Museum of Art Annual Salon 2011- Finalist in the Art Renewal Center Salon Figurative cate-gory 2011- Finalist in the Art Renewal Center Salon Landscape cate-gory 2011- Article in International Artist Magazine covering CAS


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Susan J Foster Rose Frantzen Frank Gardner David Gluck Albert Handell David Hettinger Joseph Iantorno Robert Liberace Bryce Cameron Liston Denise Mahlke John C Traynor Sadie Valeri

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