Gonzalo Guerrero
2014
Ryan Pierce
Portland, Oregon
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Ryan Pierce
Ryan Pierce was awarded an MFA Grant upon graduating from California College of the Arts.
Program Participation
Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2016
Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2013
MFA Grant, 2007
My recent paintings celebrate the resilience of weeds and our weedy human species. For the last several years I have been making imagery that depicts our world after the collapse of human industry. My background as an environmental activist and my interest in ecological theories helps me posit scenarios for reinhabitation of a wounded planet.
Within these larger parameters I make sub-series that more deeply explore facets of environmental collapse. My last body of work, titled NGHTMRBLVR, focused on the projected human migrations that will occur due to climate change. I often use literature as a starting point, and these works recast the plot of Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird to portray a narrative of displacement in a world scourged by global warming. The result was over 30 paintings and sculptures accompanied by a fictional travelogue in book form. The central questions in this story are, “Who will be uprooted by climate change? Where will they go? How will they be received?””
