Sheepskin, Private Collection, Richmond VA
I recently caught up with Ryan Lytle, an exhibiting artist and an integral part of our team from our booth at the Current Art Fair at the Redskins Bon Secours Training Center this past fall. We not only exhibited his work in our booth, but we also displayed a large pubic art piece by Lytle in the lobby of the venue during the fair. Several of his works are now in private collections in the Richmond area.
We have been closely looking at the public art potential of several artists associated with the gallery including Lytle, Thomas Lowell Edwards, and Merrilee Cleveland among others. For our December 2019 exhibit, we asked Ryan to install a dynamic public art piece called The Chase, formerly on exhibit in Norfolk’s NEON district, along with a related woven piece and smaller works similar to the works we exhibited at the fair. We invite you to join us on February 1 for the closing reception of the exhibit.
Ryan Lytle with Thomas Lowell Edwards and Merrilee Cleveland at the Current Art Fair.
The Chase at Linda Matney Gallery
JLM: Comment on your works in current exhibition
RL: The Chase, currently on the fence at the gallery, were originally created for the NEON festival in Norfolk in 2017 and was expanded upon 2018 with a community-based workshop. The pieces were intended to be temporary but held up surprisingly well as far as the structure goes. The parts were made by creating a wire frame and weaving acrylic yarn in the gaps. The piece was inspired by Beom Kim’s Spectacle (2010) in which nature documentary footage of an antelope and a cheetah are manipulated to depict the antelope chasing the cheetah. I became really interested in the role-reversal of predator and prey and it continues to be a theme in my work.
Ryan Lytle, Under Pressure Series
The Under Pressure series is a three part narrative in which the prey are captured by the snakes, consumed, and ultimately escape. For the purposes of this series the snakes are meant to represent the pressures of life that can hold or consume us as we navigate our way through the world. It is a story of redemption through persistence. In the final phase of the story I typically depict multiple escapees to show that we are often not alone in our pressures and that sometimes we escape together instead of alone.
The other works on display include Jackalopes from an ongoing series based on “Man and Beasts in American Comic Legend” by Richard Dorson. For this series I am interested in exploring weird and often comical folklore and creatures that are more of less American stories.
In addition to the Jackalopes, I have created a new woven piece. For this work I was interested in revisiting the techniques used for The Chase with a different approach toward color and movement.
Recent Works by Ryan Lytle in the John Lee Matney LTD Annex Gallery. View on Artsy
JLM: Comment on your upcoming projects
RL: I am currently working on an immersive installation for a summer show at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News. The project is part of an exhibit on the Wyeth Family set to open in June of this year. The installation itself is loosely based on “Cabbages and Kings” written by Elizabeth Seabrook and illustrated by Jamie Wyeth. It is probably my most ambitious project to date and I’m excited to see it come together.
Aside from the installation, I am continuing to develop work and ideas for a 2021 solo exhibition at the Linda Matney Gallery. I have some big ideas in the works and it should make for a really interesting experience.