Ryan Driscoll

Soft Opening presents a solo exhibition from Ryan Driscoll (b. 1990, Corby, UK). Holst represents an interpretation of English composer Gustav Holst’s The Planets, Op. 32, a seven-movement orchestral suite written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the solar system and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst. Driscoll transforms the planets and their characteristics into enigmatic figures, fantastical creatures or imagined landscapes, each enabling the artist to traverse themes of revelry, voyeurism, fury, desire, love and loss.

Reverberating with references to the romance and theatricality of Pre-Raphaelite and Mannerist painting, Driscoll’s work fuses traditional subject matter, techniques and pictorial devices with a radical approach to form. Exuding latent sensuality, androgynous figures in fantastical surroundings offer a radical re-imagining of the classical nude or landscape.