My motivations and their manifestations

The experience of blackness is more than having a brown body.  I want to engage people in emotions and experiences that transcend the body.  Abstract, non-objective imagery can convey and elicit feelings and understanding that are more universal and permanent than the transitory ways in which we often perceive humanity and nature.  Its power is heightened because it does not preach;  instead, it reinforces the uniqueness of the viewer’s interpretation.

Geometric abstraction forms the basis of many of my compositions.  Geometric shapes interact with plain or carefully mottled backgrounds.  Their relative slopes, colors, and heft imply movement or stasis, balance or imbalance, and even power relationships.  I am especially inspired by non-objective “Suprematism” championed by Kazimir Malevich and his contemporaries in pre-Revolutionary Russia, and I am generally inspired by 20th-century hard-edge and color-field paintings. 

Over the past two years, I’ve been pursuing color-rich biomorphic abstraction.  These carefully crafted, curvilinear forms interact in visually playful ways, sometimes portrayed against wildly gestural backgrounds.  The forms are quite abstract, some seeming more animal-like, some more plant-like.  Viewers are more likely to uncover (within themselves, really) meaning and interaction when the forms seem organic – but are sufficiently vaguely rendered to prevent ascribing characteristics of any particular species.  The paintings are also just plain fun to observe!

“The Impossibility of Knowing,” the title of one on-going series, refers to the strength of memory and imagination, compared to what is “real” or “observed.”  In these paintings, a solid shape, figure, or silhouette interacts with its mirrored outline, against a shadowed background.  Something that seems substantive is augmented with its mirror, shadow, future, or past.  The interplay creates visual dynamism as each shape is pulled in its opposite direction, and interpretive dynamism as each object or figure interacts with its complement.

Biomorphic abstractions

Over the past two years, I’ve pursued color-rich biomorphic abstraction. These carefully crafted, curvilinear forms interact in visually playful ways, sometimes portrayed against wildly gestural backgrounds. The forms are quite abstract, some seeming more animal-like, some more plant-like. I’ve rendered these compositions in acrylic paints, oil paints, or oil and cold wax. Below: Polendra, Parallel Lives, Orbus, and The Color of Void.

Why engage in fanciful biomorphic forms? Viewers are more likely to uncover (within themselves, really) meaning and interaction when the forms seem organic – but are sufficiently vaguely rendered to prevent ascribing characteristics of any particular species. The paintings are also just plain fun to observe!

Through June and July, ryan james fine arts will present several of these large-scale works at its Belltown capsule gallery at 2207 Second Ave. in Seattle’s Belltown (Omni Dental), open MWF 7:30-4; TTh 9-6.  Take advantage of Belltown's second-Friday art walk from 6-9pm on 6/13 and 7/11 -- I'll be there and would love to see you!

What I'm reading

I've spent the past two weeks finishing a piece (What Could Be – which I originally wanted to title Infinity Awaits) that did not want to end, reading Bianca Bosker's Get the Picture, and reading a set of essays (titled Ways of Seeing) based on a 1972 BBC series of the same name.  

I devoured Bosker's book, though in retrospect I found the first section (about her toxic relationship with a deeply flawed gallerist) painful and useless.  The last quarter or so was uplifting, reminding me of the ways my eyes and mind were opened when I started painting.  I'm glad I read that before our upcoming travels -- reminding me to be as open as possible.

Ways of Seeing (edited by John Berger) takes the format of seven essays - three of which contain only photos.  The first essay essentially interprets Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."  The other verbal essays are critical screeds on capitalism and sexism in Euro-American beaux arts.  I had to keep reminding myself of the date of the essays:  to me they repeated the critical theory that I read throughout my time as an academic, but actually they were early applications of theory to art.

Art is communication

Art of any discipline is communication:

• from the artist’s background, desires, and image-ination, filtered through

• the medium of words, notes, paint, clay – and the artist’s technical ability, to

• the reader, listener, or viewer – but filtered by their backgrounds, hopes, and knowledge.

Thus, arts of any sort are only completed when read, heard, or viewed. That’s one reason why galleries, museums, concerts, and readings are important: They help complete the communication for which art is produced.

However, the audience’s interpretation is aided by – but doesn’t require -- understanding the artist’s background, desires, and imagery. A poem, dance, composition, or painting must be able to speak for itself. But we usually get more of the communication if we understand the origins of the dance form, the conventions of the musical form, the methods, intent, and symbolism of the visual artist.

At a gallery reception or an artist’s talk, you have the opportunity to learn about artists’ background, desires, and imagery.

So please – in the midst of talking with each other, identify a work that captures you, find the artist, and learn more about their motivations. Take the time to come to an artist talk, or listen to a discussion about producing and presenting paintings, sculptures, plays, poems, novels, music.