Chris Ryniak

Chris Ryniak is another practitioner of a kind of pop-surrealism where cute and creepy often mingle. It's the kind of work that is as likely to appear on a skateboard, or cel phone cover, as on a wall. I've posted a lot of this stuff here. It's strength is the range it allows for individual voices (though oddly it also produces a lot of repetitive and imitative work).
While his work has clearly drawn on any number of influences in the past, he has steadily moved toward his own unique vision. His more recent creatures strike me as members of a pantheon of small deities reigning over all the bit's and pieces of nature that we overlook and ignore, tucked into sidewalk cracks and lurking behind industrial warehouses. He is also somewhat obsessed with teeth. Like Ray Bradbury's protagonist in the short story, "The Skeleton" he observes that teeth are just our skulls poking out of our heads.
According to a recent interview, Mr. Ryniak is spending more and more time working on his 3-dimensional work so I feel I must include an example of that here as well, as much as I am personally drawn to the paintings.
Website: chrisryniak.com






















"All Means Necessary" 23.5"x25.5" Acrylic on panel






















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"Dormancy" (?)






















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