Painting by Frank Ryan.
At precisely the time of year when those sensitive to seasonal changes in light are most likely to experience total bliss, Frank Ryan’s keenly nuanced exhibition of paintings, “Circadian Rhythm,” intensifies the high. Over a dozen modestly sized works document shadows and areas of luminosity traversing the rumpled sheets of the young UCLA MFA grad’s unmade bed. Experienced from a variety of vantage points, the intimate cropped images suggest self-portraits, chronicling Ryan’s imprint on mattress, pillows and blankets on selected days from 2/1/09 through 3/12/09. More complex and challenging are five captivating life sized canvases. One with a mesmerizing, out of focus foreground entices viewers towards reading a bedroom scene as a domesticated homage to Dan Flavin’s fluorescence. Natural and artificial light vie, revealing the whole range of Ryan’s power to sculpt and color with paint, chasing away despondency more effectively than any full spectrum lamp on the market
Published courtesy of ArtScene
