ryan fontaine

Columns (with de Stael) / wood, epoxy resin, nitrile glove, nails, oil on canvas / 64” x 42” / 2018

“My work is material oriented, often blurring the line between painting, sculpture and installation. What interests me is the certainty with which we casually engage with the world. Our overconfidence in regard to how structures work, and even what a thing is, generally go unchallenged; we exist within a comfortable system of signifiers that trigger comfortable explanations and definitions. When events or insights occur that put our preconceived ideas into question it can be jarring and even terrifying and can lead one down a slippery slope of no longer feeling anchored to reality. By using abstraction, figuration, new media and spatially substantial constructions, I hope to create this uncanny feeling of disorientation. I believe it is always positive to question our assumptions and this can lead to a mindset that is the opposite of intolerant or prejudicial.”

Ryan Fontaine is a self taught visual artist, musician, writer and performance presenter whose material-oriented work deals with repetition of imagery, mediated experience and shifting perspective and how these elements affect the world we inhabit. He co-runs HAIRandNAILS Contemporary Art with his partner, choreographer/dancer Kristin Van Loon. His most recent work was the performative installation JEALOUSY, a Minnesota States Art Board funded collaboration with dance group HIJACK (Kristin Van Loon + Arwen Wilder) and Heidi Eckwall.