The paintings begin with ‘action marks’, depicting circular self-fulfilling expressions of energy, which Ryan appropriates from Tintin strips by cartoonist Georges Prosper Remi (1907-1983) — popularly known as Hergé. Ryan isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine. 

In Ryan’s words, the paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’

The paintings begin with ‘action marks’, depicting circular self-fulfilling expressions of energy, which Ryan appropriates from Tintin strips by cartoonist Georges Prosper Remi (1907-1983) — popularly known as Hergé. Ryan isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine. 

In Ryan’s words, the paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’

The paintings begin with ‘action marks’, depicting circular self-fulfilling expressions of energy, which Ryan appropriates from Tintin strips by cartoonist Georges Prosper Remi (1907-1983) — popularly known as Hergé. Ryan isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine. 

In Ryan’s words, the paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’