Ryan McGinness

Ryan McGiness' lecture, entitled Art History is Not Linear,  showcased much of his work.  The main project that the title was about was the piece that he is working on in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.   McGinesss’ work I would consider to be geometric, complex, and intuitive.   For the VMFA project he selected over 200 objects which he sketched and then produced vector graphics of. He said this was the longest part of the process.  Once the vectors are made, he then uses a printing process method to make the final images.  However, he uses traditional paints and calls them paintings and not prints. The paintings which are layered are made intuitively and don’t have any planning beforehand.  Ryan said about his work at the VMFA, “using art history and downing down to the simplistic forms as a method to create his own art history.”  Making a commentary about art history in works that seem to comment on the basic forms and elements seems like an interesting idea.  I also really enjoyed the fact that he often built and drew stuff around his installations.   The idea of scale shifts and fractals are evident in his work. He also used black light paint which “could only be experienced in person.”  I like the idea of not being able to truly experience something in the digital medium.  When everything is so easily accessible today via the internet,  I feel there is something special about items that can’t be experienced in that way.

Questions


1. Has African Art influenced your work?

I would have to say it has, indirectly. African art is often taught in relation to art history which is what he is referencing.

2. How much of a role has graphic design played in your work?

Although the paintings are made intuitively, Ryan said that he is constantly drawing and working out geometric forms. I feel that this has probably made his quick judgments when making the paintings more informed.   I think part of graphic design is trial and error and just learning what works and doesn’t work.  Ryan said that he throws away quite a few of his paintings, because they just don’t work out sometimes.