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The Landing is pleased to present Earthbound, a solo exhibition of new works by Los Angeles-based painter Jonathan Ryan.

Earthbound marks Jonathan Ryan’s third exhibition with the gallery. Its paintings draw upon forms that are prevalent in Ryan’s body of work — architectural shapes seen from above that bring to mind the structures and stepped walls of ancient cities, made from oil paint and layered sand — but in a new way. Here, built forms are abstracted. A wall might seem to undulate, or might curl into itself; the functionality of a wall takes a back seat to the anticipation of playing with architectural pieces. The playfulness of form is matched by a playfulness of palette; the sand-included structures that in the past may have been earthy in tone are now lime green, violet, cerulean, poppy, aqua. The shapes of the structures themselves have grown loose, flowing, organic — with a palpable quality of aliveness. Throughout, the viewer is invited to enter and linger in labyrinths of sharp color and winding form.

In “Golden Spine,” an ancient stepped wall has morphed into an organic, ever-evolving form made compelling by the flowing lines along each side of its central shape —a shape that seems to be undulating, moving, growing. We see the painted shadows that delineate each step in the rising surface of the structure, plus the painted shadows that the structure itself casts upon the ground around it; in addition, we see the actual shadows cast by the rocky sand incorporated into the oil paint that constitutes the building. Shadows are always a reminder of movement, as the sun never pauses; in this case, the painted and actual shadows intersect with the flowing lines at the figure’s edges to build a feeling of continual motion. What results is an ever-unfolding visual engagement. The fact that we see just the center of the depicted structure — it appears to continue both above and below the picture plane — lends a sense of intrigue, too.

The pair of stepped, wall-like structures in “Cuddle” bring to mind mobile, organic forms glimpsed under a microscope — matter that is in the process of adjusting, evolving, becoming. Movement is created by the upward-march of the steps themselves, by shadows, and by the curling action of the two shapes. The name, too, implies a living essence, and certainly a mobile one — one that is, if not human, perhaps more like the gaseous bodies of nebulae in deep space: forms animated by organic forces, and never stagnant. The structure’s colors—two shades of electric cerulean — are likewise alive in feel.

These works retain the heightened, bird’s-eye perspective that characterizes Ryan’s paintings — a perspective that brings to mind geological mapping — but that, too, is being played with; it’s hard to know whether the viewer’s perspective is zoomed in or zoomed out — and ultimately, knowing isn’t necessary.

Where straight lines and more recognizable architectural forms do appear, like in “Chevron (Indigo),” the color palette’s playfulness — in this case, the structure itself is periwinkle with flecks of lavender, and the ground it rises from is a deep indigo — keeps things mysterious. We may be looking at the corner of a pyramid, but if so, perhaps it’s glimpsed in a dream landscape, with dream rules, rather than an historic one.

It is the presence of the sand itself that keeps each painting grounded; even when fantastically colored, it keeps returning the viewer to a sense of real earth. The sand incorporated into each structure is multi-layered, and often rocky; even the solid-colored ground each building rises from is sometimes sand-included. The admixture of the sand’s actual texture and the trompe I’oeil effect of Ryan’s masterful shading and shadow-work creates surfaces of continual interest, continual engagement.

Throughout Earthbound, surfaces that seem to rise, forms that seem to move, the vibrancy of electric color, and the intrigue of abstracted shape all speak of the playfulness of constructing. There is pleasure in looking and excitement in the building of the works themselves. One feels the thrill of making, as if it, too, is a function of the work.


Artist Statement

For the paintings in Earthbound, I wanted rhythm, movement, and color to have a strong presence. Each painting starts as a simple line drawing that I complicate by adding and subtracting layers of material and color until it feels complete, for which the criteria is a moving target.

Since I began applying sand to the surface of my paintings in 2016, my work has leaned into that material’s natural properties — the colors earthy and muted, and the forms built and architectural. The compositions are influenced by observations of landforms, human modifications of the earth, and of artworks that are invested in these subjects.

In this new body of work, I resisted that inclination towards natural color and geometric forms. I created new tensions and parameters for the work. The lines are curved, and the forms are undulating but still solid and grounded. While I applied many layers of paint to the surface, the sand and stones resisted, repeatedly absorbing much of the color and oil. The work inhabits this duality — vibrant color shows in the foreground, but earth tones and base layers of paint live underneath. I hope for the paintings to feel uncanny: not quite a place or an object, but somewhere in between, and asking to be looked at.

Bio

Jonathan Ryan was born 1989 in Buffalo, NY. He received his BFA from Louisiana State University and his MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Ryan has exhibited across the US, including a solo show at the Landing (2019), a two-person exhibition with Mattea Perrotta at the Landing (2018), and exhibitions at Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Los Angeles, CA), The Brand Library (Glendale, CA), Gallery ALSO (Los Angeles, CA), Seymour 2017 (Los Angeles, CA), Field Projects (New York, NY), San Diego Art Institute (San Diego, CA), and the Woodmere Art Museum (Philadelphia, PA). He has received fellowships and awards from Woodmere Museum of Art, Tyler School of Art, Vermont Studio Center, and LSU School of Art. Ryan lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.