CALLI RYAN
The American School, 2024
oil on canvas
14 x 11 in
35.6 x 27.9 cm
The American School, 2024
oil on canvas
14 x 11 in
35.6 x 27.9 cm
The American School, 2024
oil on canvas
14 x 11 in
35.6 x 27.9 cm
Calli Ryan is a painter who lives in Philadelphia. At night in bed, when she cannot sleep, she often watches the ceiling of her bedroom. Sometimes, as she stares at the blank plaster, she sees images appear that she cannot quite comprehend. As the seconds pass and the images shift or vanish, she tries to assign certain forms and characteristics to them. Her practice follows the same progression; her paintings begin abstractly, then slowly take form: shorelines, sleepy interiors, horses on a hillside, long-lost friends sitting at their kitchen tables. When her eyes get tired and the paint on her palette begins to dry, she walks to the window of her studio and stares down onto the street. The creatures that pass there--children, dogs on leashes, someone singing--often find their way into her compositions. She likes to paint houses. On her daily walks with her two chihuahua-mixes, she’s developed the habit of looking into people’s living rooms and imagining their lives. She was born in Virginia in 1988 and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and the University of Virginia. Her work has been featured in online and print publications, and shown internationally.