Ryan Patrick Martin is a painter, sculptor, musician/performer.  Recent exhibitions include “Fort” at Es Eff Eff Gallery, “Molting,” at Gallery Aferro, and “Aliens!!” at 207 Macon Gallery.  His work has been featured in Style No Chaser, Daughter Runs, Art Crush. Under the names “Slopwop” and “SirKn8,” Martin and his musical collaborator, Nathan Oglesby, have performed at various venues in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Martin is currently represented by Object_ify on the Lower East Side.

Question:

People have often commented on the playfulness of your work.  How do games, specifically, function in your paintings?

Answer:

Some of my work involves building and playing “games” as a way to make a painting. This has been a useful strategy for me to make logical decisions and to reach an end. If I design a maze, there is only one answer and so the painting finishes itself. As a result of this, the lines, shapes, and color I use are not strictly decorative decisions. They are characters on a board. They show movement and interact with each other. To finish the maze I have to paint a line through the only open path. This becomes the painting.

Ryan Patrick Martin, Blue Makes It Through

The restrictions in place in this situation allow me to escape the painting just as the line frees itself by escaping through an opening. I find the absurdity of this process interesting. I already know the answer because I created the problem but I play anyway. Although my paintings do not always appear to be a recognizable game, there are still systems at work and the “game” can be used as a metaphor.

Ryan Patrick Martin, Cheese Please

Finding a balance in color and composition or figuring out how two forms can connect or interact with each other is a game to me. Making a move and reacting to it is my playing the painting in a game of checkers. My hope is that the viewer enters the event that is taking place within the picture plane and plays a “game” by attempting to find the system or systems that hold the piece together.

Ryan Patrick Martin, Rainy Day Curly Hair Picnic Puddle