ARTZONE 461

TEL: 415.441.8680

FRANK RYAN

I seek to undermine the delineation of the human subject from the spaces it inhabits.  The living body is never static and cannot exist independently from its environment.  Against the stability of urban architectural space, the body is in a constant state of flux. Yet it is often the assumption that the body is a privileged form by comparison.

In my paintings, the figure is seen as a center of action, a body at work. I am not interested in the countenance or identity of the subject, but the corporeal presence that expands outward into urban space. The objects, and spaces with which the body interacts, can be considered analogues for the body itself, in that they are extensions of potential action. I would like to explore the notion of the figure to include these extensions.

I am concerned with the conflict that arises between the desire for presence and the fear of absence. Like urban space, pictorial space becomes indexically symbolic of a representation in absentia. The longevity of the painted image survives what it represents. In this manner, I use the painting to arrest and the transient experience of everyday life.