Ryan O'Connor
Artist Statement
Ask me why I create and I will tell you I don’t know. Give me a piece of paper or a canvas and I can express so many emotions that it would take hours to describe them. I can hardly express through words, so that is why I make art.
The inspiration for my art comes from many things – my deepest thoughts, an interesting memory from my travels, the curves of human figure or the music on the stereo. I may start a work with only the faintest glimmer of an idea or with the entire work completed in my mind. Sometimes just the mundane task of prepping the canvas or taping the paper to the wall will stimulate a flow of feelings that must be hung for all to see, giving glance through the window to my soul.
My works are a catalogue of my thoughts and emotions laid bare –things that I could never speak out loud, but are suddenly blurted out onto the canvas. I am too shy to express these feelings so openly to the world, instead subtly portraying them through artwork.
My art is an extension of my body and soul. Using my hands to apply paint, smudge charcoal or configure a sculpture allows a physical connection to the work that I find exhilarating. By letting the thoughts flow organically from my mind, through my body and into the work – I take the chaos of my own dismal thoughts and turn them into meaning and beauty.
Jackson Pollack said, “Every good painter paints what he is.” When you look at my works you are looking at little pieces of my soul.