Ryan Hoffmann
My work is an attempt to grasp the elusive and ephemeral. I try to represent my experiences of nature; my surroundings. I want to break these down to simple and familiar forms.
I am looking at things around me; the sky, leaves blowing in the wind, light on the horizon… I express my observations, each solidified as an event in time, in my life, through the slow process of painting.
The material elements are not accorded solely an object character, rather they serve a function. Shaped canvases, forms moulded from paint, reflections, and cast shadows manipulate the object to have a different function to that of a traditionally flat picture plane.
Time, date, location-based titles and catalogue numbers reference a position of work within a larger series, presenting a system for recording my life and gesture as an artist. My process is didactic, I learn from doing and from there I intuitively move towards a new form. Through repetition a daily practice acknowledges painting’s temporality. Painting is a vessel of labor and marker of time. As I work on each piece to represent my surroundings, I also work on everything else outside of painting happening in my life. An acknowledgement of impermanence.
– Ryan Hoffmann (2020)