Rob Ryan: Listen To The World

Last weekend I visited the Rob Ryan exhibition 'Listen To The World' at Yorkshire Sculpture Park before its 4 month run drew to a close.

Can We? Shall We? (2010)

The exhibition, spanning the past 6 years of Ryan's career, featured delicate papercuts and signed prints. Work included one of Ryan's most popular works to date Can We? Shall We? (2010), and Ryan's current largest papercut The Map of My Entire Entire Life (2012). Viewed in its vast entirety, it really was quite breathtaking.

The Map of my Entire Life (2012)

The whimsical figures of Ryan's work are often paired with sentimental, honest (and occasionally humorous) pieces of writing. Through his art Ryan explores how we view people and how people view us... And how we view the people we love. A romantic element runs through much of his work.

Our Sub Atomic Love Story (2015)

Listen To The World also featured new work, including the limited edition multi-coloured lasercut Our Sub Atomic Love Story (2015) exclusive to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and previously unseen papercuts and screenprints produced for Ryan's 2016 wall calendar. My favourite piece was My Hands (2015) for the simple yet powerful message it conveyed.

'My Hands' (2015)

One of the things that I took away from this exhibition was that despite being incredibly successful, none of Ryan's papercuts were perfect. Cuts weren't always smooth and text wasn't always neat. And yet each piece of work was effective, and carried a thought provoking message. Your art doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to do it.

 The Pearls Story (2015)

Listen To The World ended on 1.11.15.

Ryan's shop Ryantown is located on Columbia Road in 

East London.

Image credits:
All images are my own, except...
The Map of my Entire Life: http://robryanstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Map-Of-My-Entire-Life.jpg

Until next week...

-Karen