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The Dust Mask, Ryan Cronin,
Rust-Oleum paints on board, 4’ x 2’, 2001

Ryan Cronin is an outsider artist. In Cronin’s case, however, “outside” is meant to be taken literally—the New Paltz-based painter has been known to hang his paintings off bridges, along highways, on billboards, and on the sides of houses. (As Cronin works in Rust-Oleum paint, a durable medium, his work weathers little in al fresco conditions.) Why hang his paintings on fences? Cronin believes art is an everyday experience and shouldn’t be relegated solely to galleries and a limited gallery audience. Posting his work in unconventional settings, Cronin can enliven the sensibilities of the non-gallery going public, surprising them with an experience of art without the normal elitist trappings of Art.
At the same time, Cronin’s work, with its childlike scribbles, icons, and simple color schemes, creates a frisson at the blurry edge of what constitutes Art; the refreshing rawness of Cronin’s paintings makes us question our assumptions about what is fit to hang in a gallery, and conversely, is a gallery fit to hang anything in?

Cronin has shown his work extensively in the Hudson Valley and New York City and his paintings are in numerous permanent collections, including that of the Greenfield Foundation and Godi Barak Interior Design.

Ryan Cronin’s paintings are being exhibited as part of a two-person show with Jude McFarland through August 16 at the Ellen Elizabeth Gallery in Harwich Port, MA. For more information on the show, call (508) 430-4554.