Ryan Schneider

Region: Northeast

Making paintings is a physical act of satisfaction for me. And through this act, I attempt to portray moments of graceful tension and anxiousness. Each painting is the window into an environment, a chance view of intensely private moments, where violence and beauty are somewhat interchangeable. These characters are directly in the midst of an intensity that is self created. They are caught in a climax of time that is the culmination of a life carefully and carelessly lived.

As I work, I become increasingly invested in the formal concerns of painting. These concerns however, manifest themselves with me emotionally as well as mentally, creating a very thick work environment. It is my intention that this environment is present in the works themselves. Life is clumsy, hallucinatory, and fast. Through painting I want to relate this haphazard beehive of self examination, sexual violence, and love. I want to express our lives through composition.