August 2007
Ryan Rakover
Chicago, IL
ryanrakover@rakover.com
www.rakover.com
ARTIST STATEMENT
Ryan Rakover's artistic engagement began when he moved from America to Hong Kong at age six. Rakover spent ten years living in Asia, residing in Hong Kong as well as Taiwan, until his family moved to Manhattan, where, by then a teenager, he began formal art studies at the Art Students' League. Rakover's training continued with a BFA degree in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (May 2005). His artwork makes constant reference to relocation and city life. Living and traveling throughout major urban areas of the Far East, specifically South East Asia, has influenced the compositions, textures, and surface treatments of his work, and now he is exploring, for the first time, the aesthetic impact of living in the U.S. Ryan also makes regular visits to Israel, his family's home as well as a place where he spent a great deal of time as a child, and he senses artistic impulses from this ravishing/ravaged part of the world as well--also to be explored in his work.
Rakover's paintings are direct representations of the undulations of his life, and every time he enters his studio he finds himself under the sway of places and their art-making histories. Rakover's paintings' etched lines recall the delicate markings of Asian calligraphy. The Old Masters are a constant reference, especially in his use of the grid, which the Renaissance masters employed to translate large-scale images to wall frescos. The grid also pays homage to the urban settings that have been the backdrop of Rakover's life. His internal library of inspiration continues to grow, and his paintings shift, tilt, and flex as memories of location fill his mind.
