Portfolio: Ryan Sullivan

by Beth E. Wilson, July 28, 2008

It’s relatively easy to assess the work of an artist who’s been at work for years—hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. But there’s something much more exciting (and risky) in the encounter with a newly-minted artist, someone just coming into his/her own as a creative force in the universe. Ryan Sullivan is an example of the latter.

Growing up in Poughkeepsie, struggling with learning issues at school, Sullivan started as a teenage student at the Children’s Media Project, founded in 1994 by Maria Marewski “to create a teaching/learning environment where artists, educators, community activists and especially children and youth can learn to interact with the media arts both as creators and critical viewers.” He now works at CMP, located in Poughkeepsie, with the next generation of Dutchess County youth.

He was recently selected by Judy Sigunick to participate in Ellenville’s “10x10x10” public art program to create an installation in an empty storefront downtown in the village. Drawing on his background in graffiti art and graphic design, Sullivan stepped up to the challenge by transforming himself into a painter, creating a vibrant, colorful series of two and three-dimensional works that explore the tension between street art chaos and expressionist abstraction. As Sigunick said to me, “Something true happened” in the work on this installation.
His enthusiastic embrace of painting is obvious, energetic, and infectious, as I learned when I sat down to speak with him recently at CMP.

The installations of “10x10x10” are on view through October 5 in downtown Ellenville. www.childrensmediaproject.org.