PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOBBY MILLER

ARTIST RYAN TURLEY

Interview by Harryet Candee Photography of the Artist by Bobby Miller

We sure live in a big world, sometimes overwhelming, enough to experience, appreciate, engage and react to. What has been a goal or focus for you in terms of what you want your audience to understand and experience with your art? RyAn Turley: Thank you for taking the time to engage with me on so many great topics. We for sure live in a big world and sometimes it can be overwhelming with all “the things” to do, see, experience, and consume. I am honored whenever anyone takes notice and time to look and/or have an experience with my work on any level. I am not sure that I have a specific goal for people to understand or experience anything with my work anymore. Years ago, after my graduate studies, I came out of the gate, guns blazing with a lot of ideas of what I wanted to “tackle” with my work. I really thought I knew what was up. Sexuality, otherness, marginalization, and a host of other heavier socio-political issues that were important to me at the time were center stage. The work tended to start with THE message and ended with the visualization of that message. I think that was where I needed to be at the time but often felt that the actual object or visual product became more of a dictation of my political view and less about my own personal visual language. My visual language and trust in my abilities as an artist needed development. I approach my work very differently now. I believe that I have built confidence and a few other tools that enable me to make the work and come from a personal place without forcing my agenda onto anyone. The work can be consumed hopefully allowing a unique experience to each viewer. I want to create something that is approachable and original, that will have people thinking and even questioning what they saw on the way home from the show, maybe longer. I always use elements that are familiar in my art making and then I shift it, twist it, manipulate it, and present it in my own, hopefully new way. A new way to see something might be a good goal with my work.

Let’s take a close look at “Rainbows are Gay.” It is complex and fun-feeling. Tell us about this work of art, please. Great place to start as a follow up to the last question. This particular work was in my master’s thesis show at Pratt in 2011. It was the centerpiece of the entire show and what I based a lot of my thesis paper on. The work in this show revolved around my own experiences of growing up gay in America in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I was looking a lot at what “Gay Pride” was when I was growing up and what it was evolving into. The parades, the marketing, the Budweiser labels on floats going down the street in NYC…It all seemed like something had gone awry… like it

Rainbows are Gay, 2011, 42,000 1" rainbow hologram stickers on plexi-glass panel, 60 x 108 inches

had become a bit soulless and a tad frivolous. Was it always like this? I am sure it wasn’t like this always…right? It was in this frivolity that I began to dive, and 50,000 holographic rainbow stickers seemed like the right place to start. So, it began. This piece was one of the few in my career that I didn’t have to overthink. I knew what had to be done and I went to work. (Not so) Fun fact, I ran out of stickers about halfway through and had to source them from all the Party City’s (the only supplier of this particular sticker) from across the United States in order to finish. It was a true labor of love in the end, a lot of driving and a bit of a nightmare to finish. The title of course comes from the slang that was super prevalent even in 2011 of people substituting in “that’s so gay” for something they thought was “uncool” or “lame” and I used it as a way of taking it back from the negative connotation, or maybe owning it?

Please tell us about your life these days. Things are definitely full these days! I just recently closed out my first full season as the Founder and Creative Director of a new nonprofit arts space called Art Austerlitz supported by The Austerlitz Historical Society where we present artists from upstate New York and the Berkshires who are creating cultural history in the Region today. This lit the fire for my next project ARTISTRUN which will be my own gallery in Hudson NY opening early Spring of 2022. I have two solo exhibitions of my own work coming up, one at ArtSee in Hudson, NY that is open through January 15th and the second will be in Spring of 2022 at Azarian McCullough Gallery in Sparkill, NY both of which I am super excited about. I also have a side gig as a private yoga teacher and my husband, and I have a baby on the way! It works for me and has been so helpful becoming entrenched in the Upstate NY art scene. I feel more creative and excited for the art world than ever before. Things are booming and it is so exciting to be a part of it.

Please tell us about the installation, “Moving”? Moving, was created for the Bronx Museum Biennial in 2015. I had begun to work with moving blankets as my medium. I had been interested in these blankets for a long time. The color pallet worked for me, the way that they were sewn in unique ways, grids, patterns and how they were all stuffed with often interesting, recycled materials. I had one laying around the studio that had been torn and was exposing the usual grey type of pulp, but it had a gorgeous piece of hot pink fabric sticking out and a bit of olive-green fluff supporting it. I knew I needed to “go in.” I began to methodically remove the top layer of the blanket exposing parts of the interior while keeping the back of the blanket intact and I continued this process in various ways on another 20 or so blankets. Each one became a drawing/archaeological dig, and I was hooked. The piece was an exploration of internal/external, protector/protected and unseen/seen. It made sense to therefore show the blankets wrapping a quintessential house shape. These blankets are used to protect and move the contents of our homes and now they are the things that need to be protected towering proud in a museum. They are now the art that needs to be wrapped/protected. Its heady but I hope I made some sense of it for you. Many people touched and I was okay with that. It was not a place to enter, and most were okay with that.

There must be a substantial amount of physical energy involved when putting together your art, correct? I would say my work involves a fair amount of physicality. Whether it is an installation, drawing or sculpture I am usually instituting some sort of horribly repetitive, strenuous, often uncomfortable, and time-consuming journey with the work. I also never sit when I work. I guess my background as a ballet dancer could be thanked for this type of working style. It was another life for sure, I trained at The Joffrey, School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and The Bolshoi School in Moscow Russia. Most of this took place in the mid to late 90’s from my early teens until I stopped dancing at around 21 Continued on next page...

MOVING, Bronx Museum Biennial 2015, hand sewn/altered moving blankets/pads, wood frame, 132 x 120 x 120 inches

Fashionable Yet Practical, 2020, colored pencil on UV protected paper 26 x 26 x 1 ¼ inches

Jolly Roger, 2011, 85,000 happy face and skull stickers on wood panel, 48 x 82 x 2 inches photo: Adam Recih

in order to “become a normal person.” That has not taken place yet. Ballet was a huge part of my life and allowed me to escape the suburban life which I hated and travel all over the world at a very young age. It was good, bad, scary, exciting, and insane all at the same time. I am so fortunate to have found that calling and run with it. I also teach a lot of yoga and dabble in triathlons and actually love the gym.

As an artist, do you also see yourself as being a magician? A creator, for sure. What experiences in your lifetime has lead you to what you have been artistically responsible for in creating? I don’t think I have ever thought much about magic, but I would love to be thought of as a magician for sure! I would say that I have lived a lot of life for a 42-year-old, tried many things and experienced magical moments for sure so maybe that has had a hand in my ability to see things a bit differently than others. I have surrounded myself with creatives my whole life and their magic has probably rubbed off on me. The responsibility of making art is significant to me and I am compelled to create. It doesn’t seem like a choice anymore. I am good with that.

Is there a connection between the 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional work you do? I don’t think a lot about 2d vs 3d too much. I have had giant studios where I can create ridiculously large things and I have also had ridiculously priced, yet small spaces in the city where I tended to work smaller. These obstacles can be helpful in steering me in certain directions. Currently I jump back and forth and sometimes combine the two. Come to the next show and I can show you what I mean.

Thank you RyAn, I look forward to that! I enjoy looking at “fashionable yet practical” (Little Blue). I imagine traveling through a complex labyrinth. So very complex and time consuming, in a good way, I am sure. Tell us about this body of work, RyAn. These colored pencil drawings were born in Malaga, Spain at a residency I was on. I was asked to create work for an Art Fair that would hang on a wall. Up to that point a lot of my work was sculptural, so I was lost at first. I went to a local art shop there in Malaga and bought some paper, colored pencils and some stencils that looked to be made for children to learn to draw with. I was fascinated by these stencils and this idea of how to draw a dog, a train, a house etc. These types of objects are how we formulate the way in which we think things should look like. I remembered being a small kid trying to draw a house in school and the teacher insisting houses had a pitched roof with two windows and a door and possibly a tree in the front yard. This idea seemed preposterous to me as my home looked nothing like that. But I am a rule follower, so I followed suit and drew what I was told to draw. Long story short, I don’t have to do that anymore. I still use stencils, but I use only the parts I want. I use a train wheel and I layer that with a circus tent and the corner of the “perfect” flower to create the shape I need. I work on these drawings from the outside in using colored pencil which is non-erasable. The work is slow and arduous and stressful, but I am driven to complete them. They take anywhere from 6 months to over a year to complete. Part mandala, part computer circuitry I have been told.

I come across looking at Jolly Roger / Happy Face… I immediately react, and it plays on my emotions. What inspirated you to make this piece ? I would be curious to know what your reaction was… This is an earlier piece, right out of graduate school and on the tails of the first sticker piece. Thousands of happy face stickers form the skull and crossbones, Jolly Roger and thousands of Jolly Rogers form the happy face. I was playing with ideas relating to dualities, right wrong, happy sad, good bad, etc. These broad terms can haunt our vocabularies and we don’t give them much thought, yet we use them daily. Could be too on the nose these days but it was an important piece in my career. And that yellow!

HC: OK, my reaction... Life isn’t always what it seems, and what we’re given to see holds deeper meaning which leads us to the center of our being. There is a darker place there I recognized and sensed. Stirred by an immediate shock reaction to Jolly Roger / Happy Face, I had a familiar and somewhat desirable craving to search some experiences I’ve had in my past, and ... I thought about being a kid again— always smiling at everything. Continued on next page....

Adventures of B-Boy Wonder, “Self Portraits” from the 90’s, color printouts, framed, frames, 9 x 12 inches ea.

Substantial, 2021. Water based latex ink on vinyl on paper, (framed, UV Acrylic), 24 x 29 ¾ inches photo: Adam Reich

You also practice art curatorship. This must be very interesting and enjoyable work since it is based on good relationships with artists and art buyers, great art to behold, etcetera. Tell us about your curatorial experiences? I have really enjoyed stepping into the curatorial world. It has been a natural step for me artistically and professionally. I love working with art and creating experiences for others. When I see a great work of art or a perfectly curated exhibition it brings me complete joy and excitement. If I can provide that same experience for others, I AM IN. When I curate, I get to play with other people’s work to create something new and that is extremely exciting and gratifying to me. What my first goal as a curator and newbie gallerist/dealer has been is to treat artists well. That is it. Be respectful, understanding, honest and professional and demand the same in return. I have had many exhibition experiences in my career that were subpar to say the least. We can and will do better! Often artists and performers seem to be the last ones thought about in their respective creative worlds and I hope I can make sure they are the first thought, at least in my mind and my creative world. Now working on all sides of the art world I feel as if I can be understanding of what an artist needs as well as what the gallery needs from the artist. This is where we can create that magic you mentioned earlier. I think It has been working pretty well so far.

Play Hard, Work Hard. What does that mean to you? It means a lot to me. The play part has changed over the years and these days involves less party more time at the gym…and some sleep.

I love “Family Portrait”. Tell us about this work, RyAn. I think you have a great sense of humor coming through here. Also, a sense of rigidness? Thank you for loving it! I think this goes perfectly with your last question about work hard/play hard. My family is huge, last of eight children and attention was important to me. I performed and hammed it up from birth. So yes, I would say I have a solid sense of humor and it is in my work if you want to see it. I also take things WAY too seriously and can be a bit tightly wound or as you mentioned rigid at times. So yeah, this all tracks. Also raised Catholic, left home to be a ballet dancer, dabbled as a club kid then went to art school to calm things down. Those were my formative years so here we are.

We get to see a private part of your life with “Adventures of B-Boy Wonder”. What are you telling us about yourself in this series of photographs? Also pairs nicely with the last question.

B-Boy Wonder was a club kid name I created while I was at the San Francisco Ballet School in the 1990s. Rave culture was as big as it gets and in the little spare time we had as dancers we escaped into the warehouses in the East Bay to be free and of course “experiment.” Some experimentation went possibly too far and this series of pre-selfie, selfies, show me weeks before my life started making a lot more sense to me and I made some significant shifts. I came out of the closet in the weeks after these photos were taken, I quit dancing (for the first

Family Portrait, 2017, screening, bias tape, fabric, safety pins, patches, 42.5 x 76 inches photo: Adam Reich

time) shortly after while coming down off an enormous amount of LSD. So, when I see these images, I can see the confusion and hints of clarity as well as the panic that is right under the surface. I feel happy and sad and a million other things when I see this kid. Also, who would let these kids live unsupervised in their own apartments from the age of 15? That also pops into my head. So many things. Mostly good.

What are some instantaneous thoughts you have on spirituality, politics, love, food, film, art, chaos, destruction, peace, music, and possibly, favorite pet? Just let it out. - Spirituality - I am open and I am learning. - Politics - Ugh. Meh. - Love - Husband, my two labs Hudson and Harper, many family members, many friends and avocados…well Mexican food in general and physical fitness, yoga and all that. Oh and art. - Food - See Love above - Film - Almodovar, Christopher Guest, I am sure a ton more things…ooh I loved this HBO series called We are who we are directed by Luca Guadagnino. It was perfect and awkward and beautiful. - Art - See Love above - Chaos - not a fan - well organized chaos plays a role in a lot of my work so maybe I am a fan. - Destruction - also not a fan - unless it is improving on/making way for something, better? - Peace - into it, looking for it and working on it - Music, Lil Nas X is changing the entire game. FACT. - Favorite Pet - I could never choose! Bouncing around the planet we learn while in new surroundings and cultures different than that of our own. Where have you traveled to that became a good inspiring experience? The place that I was most inspired, art wise, was a short trip I went on to Berlin. I was finishing a residency in Spain and wanted to hop over to Berlin as I had never been and had been wanting to go forever. I think I was there three days max and I saw more art than I would see in a normal year at home. I devoured the city, and Berlin was happy to keep serving up more. I am also a big Joseph Beuys fan and there was no shortage of that around. From museums to small pop up/back-alley spaces, the work was solid and exciting and edgy in the best of ways. It resembled what people think NYC Art life is but isn’t. I need a couple weeks and a ticket, and I will be going back for more.

What’s a day in your life look like? Wake - dog time - coffee (decaf) - gym, swim teach yoga client - answer emails - studio - lunch - dog time - studio/gallery stuff - home - dog stuff - dinner - work/TV/emails/Social Media/LIST MAKING - dog stuff - meditate - bed - REPEAT We also have a place in NYC that we live in so there is some hopping back and forth but this is the basic structure of my day.

There must a handful of artists that you have learned from and grown to love over the course of the years? There have been many for sure and there will surely be more, without listing a ton of names people may or may not know, I would say that I am fortunate to have so many friends who are still working in the arts in different capacities that I am able to connect with from my network. They are how I can be productive and successful in my pursuits. Throwing myself out of my comfort zone from time to time is also helpful in growing this group of talented confidants. Also asking people questions even if you are afraid of what the answer could be. Be nice to people as they will remember it.

Do you listen to music when you’re on a project? I was wondering with the installation “Spectacle”, would there be any audio in the background? Tell us about Spectacle, please. I rarely listen to music when working, I tend to listen to mindless talk radio. It somehow soothes me and doesn’t distract me. SPECTACLE was created with a Jerome Foundation Grant awarded to me by Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota. It was the first large scale public artwork I created after graduate school. Part memorial, part illusionary playground, SPECTACLE plays with the viewer’s eye. The prismatic diffraction film triangles can be quiet when the sun has passed over them and they take on a memorial or tombstone feel and then when the sun hits them at different points throughout the day, we are hit with dancing rainbow prisms that chase the viewer as they walk in and around the pieces. The piece stood strong for eight years and recently came down. Continued on next page...

SPECTACLE, Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, Minnesota, 2012, acrylic, diffraction film, mulch, dirt, wood, aluminum screw posts, 50' x 50' x 2', 1250 SF

As we move closer to 2022, what challenges interest you in taking on? I will be launching my own gallery ARTISTRUN in Hudson NY in Spring 2022. I will be busy building a roster of amazing artists in the coming months. I hope to also knock out these shows successfully I have planned in the coming months of my own work. I would also love to find a gallery to call home for my own work. I have never had that formal relationship with a dealer or gallerist, and it is one I would like to pursue. I think it is an experience that will not only help my work as an artist but also help me to be a better gallerist to my own artists. I may also sign up for another Ironman race… but maybe not…but maybe yes… Ooh, I also hope to land another public art project. I have been cooking up some ideas.

I am very excited about your upcoming art show at Artsee in Hudson, along the popular and charming, Warren Street. Can you tell us about it, and what we might expect to see? I am SUPER excited about this show. My friend Julio Santiago, owner and director of the Space and Shop asked me a couple of years back if I would do a show. I hesitated for a while and then finally agreed to do one once I had the idea of what I wanted to exhibit there. Recently I found myself telling some artists that I was curating into a show that they should feel free to show old work, dust things off, revisit, reinterpret and reimagine things. So often artists are expected and encouraged to only show new work and make things for a show specifically to appease a gallery or dealer. Why don’t we show things we have already made? Why don’t we bring things back out that never had their fair share of time out in the world? It is a huge, missed opportunity. Most people HAVE NOT SEEN YOUR WORK, so pull it out of storage and live with it for a while and maybe there is something to be developed, maybe it is good to go as is, maybe this is its time to shine. Maybe not. But isn’t it worth investigating? So, I am taking my own advice and am showing a mini retrospective of work from the last ten years. I have revisited, made new connections, reframed work, (literally and figuratively) and I feel that it has been one of the most valuable exercises in generating new ideas that I’ve ever had. I have learned so much of who I am as an artist, who I was and who I want to be from putting this show together. Rest assured there is also very new stuff being shown as well! I highly recommend this process to all my artist friends out there. Go for it. You made the work, find out why.

If you could ‘be’ or ‘do’ anything in the world without limitation, what would that be? I feel like for the first time in my life I am completely doing what I want. I need some limitations to being productive or I will spiral. So, I am feeling this moment, a lot. I get to make art, show art, talk art, play with my dogs and husband, things are good. I would like a pool though. If we are dreaming.

Dreams do come true! Settling down in the evening, or any time when you want to clear your head and chill, what familiar thoughts go through your mind? I think about work until I consciously make myself switch off with meditation. It saved my life. Literally.

Where can we see more of your art? RyAn Turley, Then & Now a solo exhibition currently on view through January 15th at Artsee, 529 Warren Street, Hudson NY www.ryanwturley.com -for my work IG @ryanwturley -for more of my work and other random things IG @artistrunhudson -The Gallery IG @artausterlitz -The nonprofit Gallery

Thank you! H

Morgan Bulkeley

Goofyitis 15”x12” Oil on carved, gessoed wood 2021

Website: www.morganbulkeley.com Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA