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Close Your Eyes and Look as Far as You Can See, Part One, Cinemallage, 25"x47"x8", 2008 (detail)Ryan V. Brennan
Close Your Eyes and Look As Far As You Can See
| Hear the Artist: | |
|---|---|
| An introduction | About cinemallage | Hold hands with a stranger |
Ryan V. Brennan invites the viewer to re-envision their world in unexpected, whimsical and imaginatively endearing ways using collage, video and performance art.
Exhibition includes work from the Cinemallage Series and the Living Exercises Project.
Artist Statement:
Cinemallage Series 2008-09
Cinemallage: pieces that are simultaneously the set and viewing platform for stop animation movies.
Housed within each collage is a video player displaying chapters of an imaginative tale of a young mans journey through a future utopian fantasy world where he learns how the power of imagination can make a change in the world around him. This story employs the naïve language of fairytale as a vehicle to engage several real issues in today's society evoking hope and community in a trying time of uncertain future.
Following the protagonist through this future utopian world we come across many characters who discuss various concerns we face today such as recession, credit and mortgage crisis, global warming, social inequality, and modern food production. The characters give insight into how they overcame such challenges and offer the power of imagination as a means for hope for a better future.
[watch a video Brennan's cinemallage, Close Your Eyes and Look As Far As You Can See]
Living Exercises Project 2009-10
An ongoing performance project based on a series of instructions to be done sometimes privately or publicly, aimed to broaden one's perspective personally and socially. Recorded in the form of an instructional handmade book of exercises to be done along, with friends, family and strangers, the series facilitates introspective, cathartic and enlightening experiences. Included with the handmade books are DVDs documenting several recent performances described within the book.
About the Artist:
Ryan V. Brennan (b. Cincinnati, Ohio 1982) has exhibited in Chicago, New York City, Miami, Richmond and San Francisco as well as internationally in France. He has shown in Scope New York 10, Scope Miami 09, Scope Hamptons 07 and LA Art Fair 08/09. Ryan received the Jonathan Madrigano Fellowship for The Arts through the National Arts Club in 2010.
He also was the recipient of a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center in 2006 and has been featured in a variety of publications including The New York Times, Beautiful Decay, LA, Daily Serving, The Sunday Paper, Atlanta, Biscayne Times, Miami, and Savannah Morning News.
This exhibition was made possible with the support of our members, and:
Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism
J. Walton Bissel Foundation
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Campaign
Travelers
Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Sandy & Howard Fromson
Robinson & Nancy Grover
The Wallace Foundation
Lincoln Financial Group
Gary E. West
Maximilion E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation
The Nimoy Foundation.