Ryan Schneider

I create paintings from my experiences and observations, portraying moments of bewilderment, tension, exhilaration, and fatigue as I encounter them in the real world. The act of transferring these moments onto canvas is very important to my process—by fleshing them out in paint, I am able to better understand the reality of these events. Each painting becomes a theater allowing the viewer to look in on intensely private situations and interactions between characters. The figures in my work are in the midst of a revelation that is self-created. They are caught in a climax that is the culmination of lives too carefully, and too carelessly, lived. The physical act of painting drives the work; putting the brush to the canvas is exceptionally powerful for me. I intuitively respond to color, composition, form, and surface throughout my process, allowing the painting to grow organically.