Ryan Mosley: Thoughts of Man

Tierney Gardarin is pleased to present Thoughts of Man, the first New York solo exhibition by British painter Ryan Mosley, opening June 27 and on view through August 9, 2013. This exhibition is the artist's first with the gallery and he will be present at the opening.

Using riotous color and a phantasmagoria of form, Mosley's large-scale paintings are fantastic spaces where the history of art, the South Seas, and even the Wild, Wild West cohabitate. An assortment of quirky characters dance across picture planes as if they were stage sets, making liberal reference to both burlesque and the litany of artists who have embraced it. Botanical Theatre teases at a narrative, with the female performer at its center and a somewhat lecherous group of top hats looking on. Surreal, plant-like forms--whether they entice or threaten is uncertain--balance the right side of the picture but do little to clarify meaning. Botanical Theatre features compositional conceits borrowed from Toulouse-Lautrec, color inspired by Bonnard and a painting technique as inventive as that of Degas. Yet Mosley's particular combination of formal elements is decisively contemporary, drawn from the artist's own imagination. His use of art history is indirect; a dependable friend to be alluded to now and again. From this peculiar patchwork of images, Mosley composes paintings that are somewhat absurd, profoundly poetic and enigmatic and totally appropriate for the world in which we live.

Born in 1980, in Chesterfield, United Kingdom, Mosley studied at the University of Huddersfield and the Royal College of Art in London. He has had solo exhibitions at Eigen + Art in Berlin, Alison Jacques Gallery in London and Grand Arts in Kansas City. His work has been featured in group museum shows including Nightfall, Modern Museum, Hungary; London Twelve: Contemporary British Art, City Gallery, Prague; Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Merging Bridges, Museum of Modern Art, Baku (all 2012); Newspeak: British Art Now, Saatchi Gallery, London (2010) and Newspeak: British Art Now, Saatchi Gallery at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia (2009). Mosley's work is part of the Saatchi Collection, London and Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg. The artist lives and works in London.