Ryan McNamara

To be sad is to be in sync with humanity. I can’t think of anything worse than quoting Nietzsche in a press release in 2020, so I’ll paraphrase: The truth of life cuts so deep that we need art as a salve. I’ve been an artist for decades, but I’m only now beginning to believe in those words. Quarantine has made my regular modes of expression unfeasible, so I began to draw, on paper, the invasive yet welcome images that sneak into my head. Come visit me in the gallery so we can make meaning and decipher these alien drawings and share the consolations I’ve discovered. I’ll be there every day of the exhibition. I’ve missed seeing you.

Ryan McNamara is a Brooklyn-based artist who works in performance, video, photography, drawing and sculpture. His work has been featured at MoMA PS1, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Guggenheim New York, Kunstmuseum Bonn, The Kitchen, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, White Columns, Museum of Modern Art, ICA Boston, Perez Art Museum Miami, ICI London, The Garage Moscow, The Power Plant Toronto, the Athens Biennale and The High Line New York. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.