Ryan Foster is an American oil painter based in Birmingham, AL. Working with themes like impermanence, brokenness, distraction and awkwardness, he is interested in utilizing representational rendering to establish an open-ended arena that allows for as many conceptual avenues as possible. To that end he begins with a single line, like a child does when first learning to draw, to separate the earth from the sky. This dividing line acts as a starting point for each work.
Creating a horizon line also generates two separate paintings. The “earth” remains the same obeying normal landscape rules, while the “sky” turns into a fantastical dimension where a variety of ideas and genres are explored. In this manner, the paintings seek to be open-ended enough to absorb almost any subject matter. Like a strange Instagram feed, the open expanse of the “sky” is treated as a different realm as it endeavors to incorporate anything.
Abstraction, portraiture, still life, and landscape genres can be found to coexist within a single canvas. Often the genres bleed together becoming a landscape-portrait, or a still-life-abstract. The blending of genres reflects our information age where ideas and cultures collide. Like quickly scrolling through media on a screen, there is an embrace of excessive stimuli as categories and subject matter clash. Ideas can be explored spontaneously and easily incorporated into the “feed” of content. Broke down abstracts, athletic failure/glory, patterns, textiles, and disassembled illuminated manuscripts are cobbled together and executed in a detailed manner.
As attention spans shrink, indecision is allowed. Concepts are developed and abandoned quickly. Less successful paintings are “renovated” with new ideas painted directly upon the old. This creates a dense layering of impermanence and change. Kudzu, creeping fig, posters, and abstract stripes are painted over the original “unsuccessful” image. The Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which the broken is mended with precious materials in such a way that it becomes more valuable than it was previously, is relevant.
