Friday, March 6, 2009

SYSTEM OVERLOAD: The Ryan Ginness Renaissance





Ryan McGinness is about to take the normative rules of engagement to an exponential level of assault. First up are two tasty new books for his product-hungry fans -- No Sin/No Future (Ginko Press), and the bound, two-volume package, Aesthetic Comfort (Arkitip). Next comes the concurrent presentation of a major exhibition of his latest paintings and sculptures at Deitch Projects, and a volume of his hybridized graphic-art achievements taken from the past three years (Rizzoli) -- both aptly titled Ryan McGinness Works. The Deitch exhibition includes a monumental mural grid of 45 individuated panels, bent laser-cut acrylic sculptures, a stunning suite of seven color spectrum paintings, the mesmeric black on black monochromes and a black-light installation that amps up his most eye-poking fluorescents to a psychedelic frenzy.

Having fully embraced the ornate over the concise, once a primary characteristic of his art, McGinness continues to push the experiential dimensions of installation while investigating the modular and serial dynamics of the multiple. "I choose the restriction of formalism to create a kind of design problem-solving in my art," he admits, "but working on the computer where there is no original drawing and everything is infinitely scalable, reproducible and re-combinative, I've also become interested in the overlap between the production and reproduction of art." If anyone can translate that overlap in visual terms, it's McGinness.

Ryan McGinness, Imaginary Happiness, 2008, acrylic on linen, 72 x 72 inches, Courtesy Deitch Projects, New York

"Ryan McGinness Works." opens at Deitch Projects (18 Wooster St.) on Mar. 7, 2009.


Source: PaperMag

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