Catherine holding Blue City (It's OK Baby) by the red poles at Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2.
Biography
Catherine Ryan is a mixed media artist working in Dublin. Her background is in glass design at the National College of Art and Design. This influence is visible in her vibrant use of colour and different shapes that are combined through the medium of acrylic paint. Catherine's abstract cityscapes celebrate cities as multi-layered centres of humanity. Various objects are wired, glued, nailed onto the flat surface of the canvas, adding texture and blurring the lines between painting and sculpture. These fragments are incorporated into the imagined landscape where there is space for every conceivable shape and for all colours. Using objects from paper paraphernalia to mobile phone parts also acts as a record of the material culture of the 21st century.
Catherine’s exhibition history includes the Royal Hibernian Academy, RUA RED and Limerick City Gallery of Art. Her work has also travelled to the UK, France and the USA. Her work is held in public and private collections at home and abroad. In 2020 she joined the artists’ collective Nua Collective. Catherine is a professional member of Visual Artists Ireland. She is also a member of international artists' collective, Walk Bye, based in Jersey City USA.
Catherine’s exhibition history includes the Royal Hibernian Academy, RUA RED and Limerick City Gallery of Art. Her work has also travelled to the UK, France and the USA. Her work is held in public and private collections at home and abroad. In 2020 she joined the artists’ collective Nua Collective. Catherine is a professional member of Visual Artists Ireland. She is also a member of international artists' collective, Walk Bye, based in Jersey City USA.
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Artist's Statement
My art is inspired by cities, people, travel, looking at the world with fresh eyes, playing with materials to see what happens. Since a young age I have loved bright colours; they are full of vitality and joy. A sense of humour is also important. Humour is subversive because it's spontaneous and mischievous, much like the cartoons that speak to both adults and younger
people. The main idea behind my work is that contemporary life is complex yet there is an overall unity to things, a pattern. I use objects that I find while out walking, while some items are donated. These readymade materials add an immediacy that cannot be created by simply drawing or painting the object. They allow for a direct expression of ideas and shapes when they are transplanted onto the canvas. I connect these items with lines of paint, forming an interdependent grid system, a mapped cityscape. Always exploring!