Ryan McGinness’ prowess in printmaking circles is becoming
quite a known entity. His eye-catching, crisp and clean logo-like motifs are complex
in their subject and when overlapped or placed next to other motifs, they
sometimes create other shapes. The artists’ homage to semiotics and mass-commercialism is
apparent, and his works are widely seen in galleries, online sources, and online
merchandising. I will, however, speak to his work in this article.
McGinness is more
known as a young, up-coming painter who has received enormous attention for his
intricately, over-lapping designs. They can, at times, resemble the complexity
of viewing Islamic designs within a majid, or a host ot graffiti-like tattoos, but his subject matter is more
far-reaching, incorporating known designs and creating his own logos for religious
symbols, the human form and animals, etc. To McGinness, the more exotic his references
are, the better. The end result of these complex combinations
is often successful when applied to his paintings, but his prints aren’t as
heavily drenched in color nor in subject. Nor do they need be.
He often lets the white of the printed paper show through and around hsi subjects and it
creates a shape of its own. Some of his prints don’t appear ‘finished’ - like some of Paul Cezanne’s watercolors left an
openness of the paper for the viewer to fill in the gaps. I can’t say I think
McGinness is attempting the same dialogue. To be honest, it would appear that his
message isn’t even about the subject-ness of his designs and logos. He appropriates
form for building other types of shapes, but as for some inner meaning or
referential point, McGinness doesn’t mention anything in particular, and their
vagueness leaves one detached. His
deliberate avoidance for some compositional device(more seen in his prints) may
also be a form of anti art-statement. In some cases, I am reminded of the work
of Carrie Plank, whom I wrote about earlier this year. Her sensibility for combining
recognizable form was so disparate, that one couldn’t connect the dots of
meaning in her work. Here, I am close to making the same assessment with
McGinness’ work, although he does control the design of his logos and their
uniformity is in his use of their flat, bright colors.
Where McGinness’ paintings are saturated with line and form
and visual “POW!” , his prints are just as complex in their single use of
color. I, too, understand wanting to try ‘something else’ in other media, so one
can see the artist’s thought-process at work.
I do like the artist’s energy and the fact he is seems to be
ever-exploring his imagery.
McGinness’ expansion from geometric form to fluid curvilinear
motifs moves us through some earlier 20th c. art movements like Op
Art and the Semiotics of the 1980s, Multi-culturalism and tattoo-graffiti of the
1990s to now. The multi-ethnic source material will be interesting to see evolve,
as it has been with earlier artists’ work, but the ambitious nature of his
overall projects and producing them in other cultures speaks to the works of
his predecessors Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. We will hope his longevity transcends theirs,
as this own path moves forward.
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