The Art Out There: Ryan Mrozowski

Ryan Mrozowski's work reminds me a bit of the work of Ian Davis who I posted just over a month ago. They both use relatively simple, graphically strong painting and drawing styles to depict idiosyncratic and largely social narratives. Like Mr. Davis, Mr. Mrozowski pursues a series of themes, the most prominent being audiences. Whether the setting is a classroom, or a theater, or a lecture hall, each anonymous gathering is witness to some largely inexplicable display. The prominence of spectacle and entertainment in our culture, and the dubious point of so much of it, may be in question here. But in other paintings the inexplicable takes place elsewhere, seemingly hidden from public view, as in a collection of space suits (or possibly astronauts?) hanging from the rafters of a large storage shed. Either way the scene is one that is incongruous, unlikely, but not perhaps, impossible. It seems intentionally to be both jarring and intriguing. It is by balancing these two reactions that a whole slew of contemporary artists attempt to coerce the viewer into some kind of participatory role with the art. For my part, I think Mr. Mrozowski's work succeeds splendidly.
See more at his website www.ryanmrozowski.com
and at representatives www.pierogi2000.com