OHT Gallery Boston

Previous Exhibits

Ryan Steadman

Worst to First

October 3 - November 1, 2008
Reception: Friday, October 3, 5:30 - 7:30pm

O·H+T Gallery is pleased to present Worst to First, an exhibition of new work by Ryan Steadman. At first glance, Steadman's new paintings seem radically different from his loosely painted figures set against abstracted urban backdrops (New Paintings, June 2005, Something Else, October 2002). In fact, Steadman's new work marks another step in his continuing transition from cool observer to empathetic participant.

In Worst to First, Steadman's paintings continue to blur the line between image and physical object, but now the focus is on what he calls "the reductive object". Steadman limits himself to basic art supplies, out-of-the-tube colors, and a step-by-step process to make paintings that mimic actual things. As he chose to depict the familiar mini-dramas of everyday life in his earlier paintings, he now selects seemingly ordinary items (a gasoline sign, last winter's snow, a graveyard) as his subjects. Brown Book With Gold (right), one of a series of book paintings in the exhibition, follows Steadman's simple manufacturing rules ... a rectangle painted to resemble an everyday object. Yet, this deceptively humble object has the power to awaken complex memories and associations ranging from wistful to wrathful.

Robert Ryman, Braque, Johns, and Blinky Palermo are all mentioned as influences in Ryan Steadman's artist's statement. Academically, it is easy to see connections, but Steadman's work has a wry vision and poignant humor that transcend intellect to create a poetic reality theater in which we are the players, and his paintings become the sets and props.

Ryan Steadman lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally at Envoy Enterprises, New York, Baumgartner Gallery, New York, Lehmand Maupin Gallery, New York, and Perugi Arte Contemporanea, Padova, Italy. His work has been published in Harper's Magazine and New American Paintings. Steadman will curate Charmed (sequel to Happy, January 2004), at O·H+T in February 2009. This is Ryan Steadman's third solo exhibition at O·H+T Gallery.