bio
Ryan McClelland
Ryan McClelland creates monuments to the vulgarity of the of western consumer society, the flotsam and jetsam of our urban experiences are played out in narrative images and piled high in complex sculptures. Trash and treasures, decadent and degrading behaviours, are set up to create tensions within works, he is truly a master of incongruous juxtaposition.
His narrative drawings and prints stand in a long lineage of social commentary; awash with transgressive behaviour, the thematic’s of binge drinking, sex and violence. Throughout all his work he projects social scenarios that purposely present a duality of interpretation to the viewer.
Contemporary excesses are laid bare for the voyeur to interoperate as they choose fit. Or indeed a true taxidermy of contemporary life, He elevates the maligned and base, to the truly decadent level of Art.
Education and Training
2007
MA Fine Art Printmaking Royal College Of Art, London
2006
Etching Workshop Assistant, Royal College of Art, London
Visiting Lecturer, Winchester School of Art, London
2006
Visiting Lecturer, Camberwell College of Art, London
2004-present
Teacher of Art, The Bridge School, London
2002
Visiting Teacher of Art, Crusoe House School, London
2001-2002
P.G.C.E Art & Design, Goldsmiths College London
1998
Prop Maker, Spitting Image Productions, London
1997-2000
BA(Hons) Visual Arts, Camberwell Art College London
Selected Exhibitions
2007
Last of the Urgents, Colony, Birmingham
Katalogue XXL, Trafalgar Hotel, London
Ritual Abuse, Boys Hall, Royal College of Art, London
The Great Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London
Underground, Subway Gallery, London
Kunst-Wurst, Cafe Gallery Projects, London
Urban Monsters, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, USA
Over & Over Again, Wells Theatre, London
2006
Leicester City Art Gallery, Leicester
Pinocchio Related, Hockney Gallery London & Venice Academia
New News From Nowhere, William Morris Museum, London
2004-2007
RCA Secret, Royal College of Art
2005
Domesticity, The Art Works Gallery, Bournemouth
Co[]ect, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2003
HereMyself, Concourse gallery Byam Shaw School of Art, London
2002
Subject to status (solo exhibition), Blenheim Road, London
Art Now with Ilderton Primary School, Tate Modern, London
The New Radicals, Galleri Sigma Goteborg, Sweden
Futuremap 2000, The Davies Street Gallery, London
Selected Publications
Nov/Dec 2007
Ceramic Review
2007
Katalogue XXL Edition
2007
‘As If Something Once Mentioned Now Plain To See’, Colony Gallery
2007
‘Ritual Abuse’, Exhibition Catalogue
2006
‘New News From Nowhere’, William Morris Gallery
2005
‘Domesticity’, Exhibition Catalogue
2000
‘Future Map 2000’, Exhibition Catalogue, The London Institute