Landlines

Gildar Gallery is pleased to present Landlines an exhibition of new works by Ryan Everson running from August 22nd to September 26th with an opening reception on Friday, August 22nd from 6pm - 9pm. This show features the artist's latest text-form series that includes iconic handmade sculptural objects and photographs depicting his linguistic extrusions interacting with the natural landscape.

in Landlines Ryan Everson creates objects and images that "confront the muck of language" as literary theorist Roland Barthe once put it. Continuing his focus from previous works, Everson develops a simultaneous convergence and disillusion of meaning. Abstract phrases physically constructed from wood and metal convey content as both recognizably assembled letters and visual objects corresponding to an environment.

Pointing to a long lineage of sculptural text art of the past from Pop to Conceptual artists, Everson's approach to symbols is unique in its sincere approach to the anxieties surrounding language's ability to communicate emotional experience. Between symbol and sculpture meaning blends. The laconic phrase "Fade Away" literally begins to dissipate into the background as its painted gradient blends with layers of the surrounding forest and sky. The lone "Drift" floats slowly across a pristine lake distorted by camouflage. As these text-forms become activated by the otherwise pristine environment distinction between symbols blur.

Still meaning evades any specific reference even as it is carved, painted and photographed into existence. Charged yet ambiguous symbols stir an ill-defined sentimentality. Brooding language like "Hard to Find" and "Close to Nothing" point to palpable feelings of loss without indicating any acute source experience. While expertly crafted, each object, upon close inspection, bares evidence of the inconsistencies particular to even the steadiest hand. These physical idiosyncrasies further reflect the ultimately personal and nuanced way language is constructed in the mind. Within Everson's iconic artworks the dramatic tug-of-war persists between longing for pure experience and a desire to communicate the ineffable, with the question remaining– does language bring us closer towards connection, or further isolate, leaving humanity to drift along alone, together?