RYAN BROWNING: 20019 (not a typo)

20019

November 2019

I think of the shallow space appearing inside the edges of my paintings as a place to be occupied - a space to fall into. Characters sometimes reach into the frame, or in my imagining, wait just beyond its edge. When a painting is complete, I want this space to appear as if cut from a wider world, but existing only with the acute focus of a portrait - like a stage littered with props after the play has ended and the cast has disappeared behind the curtain. Surreal and abstracted elements enter into this space, sometimes conforming to image’s compositional framework like elements in a poster or magazine cover, and sometimes resting in the staged space as if deflated or spent. Larger paintings sometimes take the form of many smaller paintings in antique frames interconnected to create one large image - the frames functioning as a screen providing a view into a parallel world.

To see more of the show and the artist, visit adagallery.com