Ryan Severance (b. 1991, Erie, PA) is a painter living and working in Baltimore, MD.  View CV

The window is an intricate architectural element that serves as a viewfinder to the world outside of one’s physical body, while also acting as a reminder of one’s own confinement. My work investigates the simultaneity of these two opposing frames of reference, and the dialogue that comes out of it. In one instance, the window serves as a moment of rest to escape what surrounds it. In other moments, windows often allude to imprisonment, where the frame of the window serves as a delineating device between what is and is not attainable. In several cases, these two iterations of the window intersect and amalgamate into compositions that raise questions regarding voyeurism, and the private versus the public. In addition, they begin to investigate how one’s own personal history can work to both answer and convolute these questions.

By using traditionally abstract elements such as the grid and void/form relationships, my work employs a history of abstraction that is heavily engaged in structure. Concurrently, the incorporation of representational elements creates a dichotomy between the illusionistic and the abstract. What results is a window into a space that makes the viewer aware of his/her own freedom, or lack thereof.

Ryan Severance (b. 1991, Erie, PA) is a painter living and working in Baltimore, MD.  View CV

The window is an intricate architectural element that serves as a viewfinder to the world outside of one’s physical body, while also acting as a reminder of one’s own confinement. My work investigates the simultaneity of these two opposing frames of reference, and the dialogue that comes out of it. In one instance, the window serves as a moment of rest to escape what surrounds it. In other moments, windows often allude to imprisonment, where the frame of the window serves as a delineating device between what is and is not attainable. In several cases, these two iterations of the window intersect and amalgamate into compositions that raise questions regarding voyeurism, and the private versus the public. In addition, they begin to investigate how one’s own personal history can work to both answer and convolute these questions.

By using traditionally abstract elements such as the grid and void/form relationships, my work employs a history of abstraction that is heavily engaged in structure. Concurrently, the incorporation of representational elements creates a dichotomy between the illusionistic and the abstract. What results is a window into a space that makes the viewer aware of his/her own freedom, or lack thereof.