PRofessor Browning

Earlier on in the semester I went to Ryan Browning’s talk. I have him as a teacher for “The Image as Readymade” and I was really curious about his art.

It turns out he’s really nerdy! I love it. He talked about his experience playing dungeons and dragons and how it inspired some of his work and allowed him to make contacts. He also mentioned the digital age, and the subject of avatars. He talked about an online persona and how people create an identity. He also discussed how videogames were an early inspiration for some of the textures and objects in his paintings. I liked what he had to say about the choppy graphics of the old video games and the geometric nature has some sense of beauty, which can’t be recreated with newer graphics.

He also talked about maps as an extension of space in every direction and also about creating space. He talked about creating spaces in art, much like in a video game sense, in how you get to “play with your world”. He likened creating a new space in his art as a “sand box” and he said that “Every painting begins with a space” which I found to be almost useful. I always seem to struggle with a place for my pieces, or a context.

I looked at his art this past winter break before I took his class. I love his surreal quality. The objects in his paintings are reminiscent of earthly objects, but I can never place my finger on them. They have such a dream like quality, and excellent painting technique, which I love. I love surrealism and especially when painted in a realistic style.

His paintings are almost sculptural sometimes, and very geometric. I loved hearing him talk about them, as he explained the origins of his inspirations, which added new meaning to them for me.

I thought it was interesting to hear such a young professor talk, and now I understand what he says in class more and more. I like his references to the Internet and video games, being a strong proponent of both. I always played video games as a kid, and recently have been incorporating some of it into my art. I love what he said about making art about what you love. I have usually strayed away from things I’m obsessed with such as Lord of the Rings and video games, because I felt people would judge me, but now I have an inspiration to do just that!