Does anyone still not know that Chris Ryniak and Amanda Louise Spayd will be opening their amazing two person show, MIGRATION, at Stranger Factory on March 1st? Well, have a press release anyway!
As we announced earlier, both artists will be present at the reception, and Stranger Factory is also offering two workshops in conjunction with the exhibits!
(BY STEVE BROWN.)
Stranger Factory is excited to play host to MIGRATION, the latest collaborative exhibit by Chris Ryniak and Amanda Louise Spayd. The opening reception is at Stranger Factory on Friday, March 1st from 6 PM – 9 PM.
Chris Ryniak’s contributions to Migration include drawings, sculpture, paintings, and very small runs of editioned resin statues of his unique and immediately recognizable creatures. Occupying the world just out of our peripheral vision, Ryniak’s creatures travel through the underbrush in Migration and happily search for the shared meanings in their lives and ours. Covered in lumps, bumps, and smiles, Ryniak’s creatures exemplify singular bits of human personality as they giggle, stumble, stroll, and sometimes just eat their way through life.
Amanda Louise Spayd’s portion of Migration includes plush sculptures, drawings, small runs of editioned resin statues, and mixed media paintings. Packing their belongings and moving on at the turn of the season, Spayd’s hapless bunnies highlight the natural transition of life, and the shedding of detritus as we move from one phase to another. Forever in transition, yet frozen in a sort of adolescent wonder, Spayd’s sack rabbits are themselves scraps and leftovers, wrapped delicately in the cast-offs of others and trudging endlessly from one season to the next in search of their place in the world.
Both artists are close friends, and each has gone through major life transitions in the past few years including leaving their long-time homes for new dwellings. As they helped each other through their own migrations, they abandoned their old lives and learned to create themselves anew. This collaborative show is the culmination of several years of tears and triumphs between two friends who make beautiful monsters.
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About Chris Ryniak: Chris was born as a baby in 1976 in the suburbs of Detroit. He spent his childhood basking in the warm glow of Saturday morning cartoons and flipping over rocks in search of insects, reptiles and ghosts. A graduate and former instructor of the Ringling School of Art and Design, he is now a painter and sculptor of all manner of critters. Chris’ work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. His paintings have also been published in numerous books and periodicals in multiple countries, and he is part of the Circus Posterus collective of artists. Chris resides in Ohio with his two children, one very old cat, and a collection of skulls that rivals many museums.
About Amanda Louise Spayd: Amanda is a maker of the highest order. An accomplished artist, sculptor, musician, soap maker, and student of perfumery, Amanda spends a lot of time in the woods, watching birds, collecting feathers, dead insects, bones, and other artifacts. She can often be found poking through antique stores looking for beat-up treasures for inspiration, which she finds in historical fashion and textiles, the excess and ridiculousness of high-societies past, natural materials and their inevitable decay, the raw and instinctual behaviors of animals, and in artists such as Jan Svankmajer, Odd Nerdrum, Joseph Cornell, and Hieronymous Bosch, among others. Amanda is also part of the Circus Posterus collective of artists.
The workshops at Stranger Factory have become a huge hit! The ability to be part of a small lecture or hands on class with amazing high-caliber artists is still uncommon, and we got to experience one first hand this weekend with Amanda Louise Spayd.
Above, Amanda is guiding the way to a perfect patina.
