HONG KONG.- Over the Influence is presenting Here Comes The Rooster, the first solo exhibition of American artist Ryan Travis Christian in Asia. For his new show, the artist creates a menagerie of characters using anthropomorphism as a humorous route through a dark world view. Featuring new charcoal on paper works of his signature style, the exhibition also showcases a series of canvas paintings, a medium which the artist is unveiling for the first time. Here Comes The Rooster runs from 3 September to 4 October 2020 (Tuesday – Saturday from 11 AM – 7 PM) at Upper Gallery, Over the Influence Hong Kong (1/F, 159 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong).
Ryan Travis Christian's work draws influence from vintage political cartoons and hand-drawn animation used in a cheery yet ominous fashion to comment on politics, drugs, and the contemporary life of suburban America. As the chaos of 2020 unfolds amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Christian has, like many of us, pushed himself to break free of the self-imposed constraints of his practice. In the new body of works for this show, he has employed charcoal on paper in a freer version of the tightly intricate pencil drawings for which he’s known. The works embrace the rough and residual marks of the artist left behind by a dirty fingertip or careless elbow and embody the artist’s feelings about the state of the world – a world that is messy and unpredictable.
Like the chaotic macho energy that a rooster brings to a chicken coop, Here Comes The Rooster is a jumble of imagery and one-liners chaotically organized into a reflection of our time. A self-medicating Cobra is stoned into oblivion and menacing birds joyride through the streets. Christian’s irreverent titles and smirking characters bring humor to the darkness: environmental destruction (BUSHES DON'T EXIST ANYMORE), the ever-growing divide between rich and poor (THEY JUST LET IT BURN), and the current state of the union (I'LL FIGHT THEM! I'LL FIGHT US TOO!). Chaos is always on the horizon, and everyone is just trying to do their best to make it through.
Ryan Travis Christian was born in 1983 in Oakland, California, USA. He received his BFA from Northern Illinois University. He lives and works in Warrenville, Illinois, USA.
Christian’s exhibitions include the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC; The Hole, New York City; Guerrero Gallery in San Francisco; Halsey McKay in East Hampton, NY; and Cooper Cole in Toronto and has been included in group shows in London, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Dallas and Los Angeles. His work has been written about in frieze, art ltd, Art Papers, New American Paintings, Daily Serving, Indy Week and the Associated Press. His works are in numerous private collections worldwide.
