The paintings in Ryan Gander’s Irresistible Force Paradox series begin with 'action marks’, appropriated from Tintin strips by cartoonist Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), depicting a circular self-fulfilling expression of energy. The action marks are isolated from their original context and transposed onto monochrome aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche car colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example.

Since childhood Ryan has been obsessed with Tintin. As as an adult and an artist, he is interested in the action marks and comparable visual gestures as signs that signify movement, action, thought, emotions, communication, and other interactions between characters, in an instinctively comprehensible and non-verbal language that is noted but not read. Although this language was not new, it was copied and mimicked by many after Tintin became internationally recognised.

The displaced action marks depict expressions of energy without the means. The paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an Irresistible Force Paradox, if you will.’ In Ryan’s words, ‘this futility is not a negative thing. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to point B; however, we could understand it more as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. In physics, we know that no energy disappears, it simply moves from one thing to another. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’

The paintings in Ryan Gander’s Irresistible Force Paradox series begin with 'action marks’, appropriated from Tintin strips by cartoonist Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), depicting a circular self-fulfilling expression of energy. The action marks are isolated from their original context and transposed onto monochrome aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche car colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example.

Since childhood Ryan has been obsessed with Tintin. As as an adult and an artist, he is interested in the action marks and comparable visual gestures as signs that signify movement, action, thought, emotions, communication, and other interactions between characters, in an instinctively comprehensible and non-verbal language that is noted but not read. Although this language was not new, it was copied and mimicked by many after Tintin became internationally recognised.

The displaced action marks depict expressions of energy without the means. The paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an Irresistible Force Paradox, if you will.’ In Ryan’s words, ‘this futility is not a negative thing. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to point B; however, we could understand it more as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. In physics, we know that no energy disappears, it simply moves from one thing to another. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’

The paintings in Ryan Gander’s Irresistible Force Paradox series begin with 'action marks’, appropriated from Tintin strips by cartoonist Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), depicting a circular self-fulfilling expression of energy. The action marks are isolated from their original context and transposed onto monochrome aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche car colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example.

Since childhood Ryan has been obsessed with Tintin. As as an adult and an artist, he is interested in the action marks and comparable visual gestures as signs that signify movement, action, thought, emotions, communication, and other interactions between characters, in an instinctively comprehensible and non-verbal language that is noted but not read. Although this language was not new, it was copied and mimicked by many after Tintin became internationally recognised.

The displaced action marks depict expressions of energy without the means. The paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an Irresistible Force Paradox, if you will.’ In Ryan’s words, ‘this futility is not a negative thing. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to point B; however, we could understand it more as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. In physics, we know that no energy disappears, it simply moves from one thing to another. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’

The paintings in Ryan Gander’s Irresistible Force Paradox series begin with 'action marks’, appropriated from Tintin strips by cartoonist Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), depicting a circular self-fulfilling expression of energy. The action marks are isolated from their original context and transposed onto monochrome aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche car colours – ‘Mexico Blue 336’, for example.

Since childhood Ryan has been obsessed with Tintin. As as an adult and an artist, he is interested in the action marks and comparable visual gestures as signs that signify movement, action, thought, emotions, communication, and other interactions between characters, in an instinctively comprehensible and non-verbal language that is noted but not read. Although this language was not new, it was copied and mimicked by many after Tintin became internationally recognised.

The displaced action marks depict expressions of energy without the means. The paintings ‘convey a sense of irony and futility; an Irresistible Force Paradox, if you will.’ In Ryan’s words, ‘this futility is not a negative thing. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to point B; however, we could understand it more as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. In physics, we know that no energy disappears, it simply moves from one thing to another. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form.’