Ryan Cummings

Artist Statement

Form defined by light and shadow revealed to the eye through the spectrum of color. This fundamental facet of art is beautifully contained in the natural world around us and has inspired artists for centuries. Our presence in this world plays a significant role throughout the arts in how, and why, we express ourselves.

Working from photographs and sketches taken over the years from the Appalachian Mountains to the Florida Keys, I create landscapes using two different styles of painting and by incorporating vintage black and white photographs of people and objects that occupied the land at different points in time over the past century. Populating my paintings with these photos not only suggests something of a narrative, it also creates a record of cultural anthropology by showing what the people of these lands looked like, what they wore, what their homes looked like or how they built them, etc. Their presence in these paintings further informs the landscape as well as themselves and gives it a more complete identity, much how the land itself once defined and shaped their lives.

The method by which I paint these landscapes is significant. Starting at the top of the panel where the sky begins, I paint using a representational style until I get to the horizon. From there I begin to divide the visual plane into square shaped areas using tape and stencils, painting the land in a representational style in some areas as before while filling others with pure blocks of color, textures, goldleaf, or oil-based wood stain. These squares sometimes overlap, and with a noticeable level of transparency this creates a certain degree of movement and depth. They act almost like a jigsaw puzzle, piecing together the total lay of the land. Just as well, these squares echo the shapes of the photographs I place in the landscape, providing a pleasing level of consistency.

My paintings are individual pieces of a larger timeline, combining different mediums of expression to more fully and creatively describe and record the Natural World around us.

Resume

Exhibitions

2007

Upstream People Gallery 9th Annual Collage, Digital, Mixed Media Online International Art Exhibition.

2006

Ryan Cummings- An Altered State of the Natural World, solo exhibition, N.C. State University Brooks Hall Gallery, Raleigh, N.C.

ARTgalleryflorida Membership Gallery, 2005-2006 Membership Exhibition Series, Estero, Fla.

Ryan Cummings- An Altered State of the Natural World, solo exhibition, DesignBox Gallery, Raleigh, N.C.

2005

Arts and Design Society of Fort Walton Beach 13th Annual Southeast Regional Juried Fine Arts Exhibition, Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Tulane Review, Tulane University, New Orleans, La.

Upstream People Gallery 7th Annual All Media International Juried
Online Exhibition.

2004

Northwood University, Solo Exhibition, Hare Gallery, W. Palm Beach, Fla.

Brad Cooper Gallery 2004 Biennial Exhibition, Tampa, Fla.

Boca Raton Museum of Art 53rd Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition,
Boca Raton, Fla.

Outstanding Artists of Florida Exhibition, Gallery Victoria, Naples, Fla.

ARTescape Juried Exhibition, Gallery Victoria, Naples, Fla.

2002

Ken Elias Habitat Gallery, group show, W. Palm Beach, Fla.

Shacknow Museum of Fine Art, group show, Plantation, Fla.

2001

HORTT 42nd Artist Competition, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

1999

Trace Gallery, group show, Raleigh, N.C.

Form and Function Gallery, group show, Raleigh, N.C.

Raleigh Contemporary Gallery, group show, Raleigh, N.C.

Education

North Carolina State University College of Design, BA Visual Design, Raleigh, N.C., 1991.

Awards

2007

Special Recognition- Upstream People Gallery 9th Annual Collage, Digital, Mixed Media Online International Art Exhibition.

2006

Best in Show- ARTgalleryflorida 2005-2006 Membership Juried Exhibition Series.

2005

First Prize- Art Contest Winner, Tulane Review, Tulane University.

Award of Excellence, ARTescape Juried Exhibition, Gallery Victoria.

Collectors

Jim and Lynn Sears

Gray and Kelli Ingram

Souheil Al-Awar

Aly and Beth Khalifa

Julie Woosley

Publications

Tulane Art Review, Tulane University, ( photo feature ) Fall 2004.

Naples Daily News, News announcement, group show. May 14, 2004.

Tulane Art Review, Tulane University, ( photo feature ) Spring, 2004.

Russell, Candice. City Link Magazine, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. ( feature article ) March, 2004.

Russell, Candice. City link Magazine, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. ( exhibition review ) Feb., 2001.