RYAN V. BRENNAN:
CLOSE YOUR EYES AND LOOK AS FAR AS YOU CAN SEE

Opening reception: Thursday, December 16, 2010 | 6-8 PM
Part of Creative Cocktail Hour
$10 | $5 for Real Art Ways Members
Artist Talk: Thursday, February 3, 2011
Exhibition Through Sunday, February 13, 2011

Close Your Eyes and Look as Far as You Can See, Part One, cinemallage, 25"x47"x8", 2008 (detail)

Hartford, Connecticut - Close Your Eyes and Look As Far As You Can See, an exhibition by Ryan V. Brennan at Real Art Ways, invites viewers to become participants in the world in unexpected, whimsical and often humorous ways using collage, video and performance art.

There will be an opening reception for the show on Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 6-8 PM as part of Creative Cocktail Hour, Real Art Ways' monthly gathering for creative people. Creative Cocktail Hour is $10/$5 for Real Art Ways members.

The show's title work, Close Your Eyes and Look As Far As You Can See, is what Brennan calls a cinemallage: a piece that serves as the set and viewing platform for a stop animation movie. In this work, a dreaming young man - embodied in a plastic toy astronaut - explores a vibrant utopian landscape. Told in the naive language of a fairytale, the story belies a deeper narrative of the quest for self-discovery.

The exhibition will also include Brennan's Living Exercises Project, a series of instructions designed to facilitate introspective, cathartic and enlightening experiences. Exercises include "Hold Hands with a Stranger" and "Ten-Minute Communal Solitude and Silence." The exhibition displays footage of people performing the exercises, and there will be bound books of instructions available at the opening.

Also in the Real Art Ways galleries, Olu Oguibe's Wall and Saya Woolfalk's Institute of Empathy are on display through March 20, 2011.

ABOUT RYAN V. BRENNAN
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.

SUPPORT
This event is made possible with support from Real Art Ways members, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, the J. Walton Bissel Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the 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, the Maximilion E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation and The Nimoy Foundation.

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