Ryan Travis Christian: ANTEXSPAGNA and Jonathan Runcio: 4×4
@ ebersmoore
213 N Morgan St, 3C, Chicago, IL 60607
Opening Friday, February 12th, from 6PM - 9PM
On view through Saturday, March 13th
Ryan Travis Christian on ANTEXSPAGNA:
“Antexpagna is this word my Great Uncle Bill made up. He would say it A LOT to me whilst sitting in a lawn chair and drinking one Coor’s banquet after another, I was told by him to never forget it and even post Alzheimers this is something he retained (instead of anyone’s name or anything). Like I said, the word isn’t real (or maybe it is because he made it up? I dunno) but the word is celebratory (probably because he was always drunk) or spoken in that sense at the very least.
“Anyhow, the title of the show is a) a homage to a dude who was no more or more less special than anyone else. b) a celebration of my experience. And really that’s what the drawings are. Something I am just starting to realize. The drawings are repackaged visualizations of stories I tell people (usually over drinks). The stories are almost entirely first hand surreal experiences but some aren’t (doc Ellis, Fabio’s bird incident). It works nice for me too because I have something to fuel the image, the image preserves the story, and best of all I don’t have to stretch or sound like a turd when I talk about them, because they are meaningful and real to me and they are entertaining as hell.
“The images are constructed using abstract elements, comic utilities (like sub panels and motion lines) and old fashion cartoon iconography. I use these components to anchor my story or my experience so I can communicate to hopefully a broader audience. Not everyone loves a stoner’s tale. I have always strongly believed that the best art is a combination of first hand experience melded with visuals that have withstood the test of time and have been used and re-used by people historically.”
In Gallery 2, Jonathan Runcio will present a series of new paintings created using simple shapes, re-arranging them, and allowing the colors, such as the print-standard CMYK palette, to overlap and blend, creating new hues. Methodical in their production, the paintings offer a complex optical dialogue as he plays with a combination of colors, positive, and negative forms.
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