biography Born in 1968 In Greensboro, North Carolina, Ryan Cummings grew up in the rural northern region of the state far away from the big cities. Walking and playing in the wooded land around his home, as a child, proved to have a powerful impact later in life when he became a painter.
After high school, Ryan attended North Carolina State University School of Design where he received a degree in Visual Design. While there, he also took courses in life drawing, sculpture studio, photography studio and painting studio. This broad approach to his education would later feed directly into his work. For example, the black and white photos he took in his courses are found in his paintings today.
Soon after earning his degree in 1991, Ryan began his career as a muralist and painter. For some years he lived in Florida. The natural environment of his “new home state” provided him with a new "laboratory" and he continued his fascination with the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us. More recently, he moved back to North Carolina.
As an incentive to his own personal growth as an artist, Ryan exhibits his work in galleries and art centers and enters art competitions. He was a finalist and won the BEST IN SHOW AWARD in Artescape Naples 2006-2007 Series of juried exhibitions.
As one observes Ryan’s paintings, not only his love of the natural environment comes through strong, but also a sense of history and a fascination with cultural perspectives is deeply sensed. His multimedia artworks on board capture the essence of significant places or important moments; striking contrasts of the old and the new; and families and friends over generations. Many are embedded with photos, some vintage, as well as simple but brilliant original art. An example is "A Gathering in the Hills" (found on his page on
this website). In this piece – offset in sharp autumn colors – Ryan dramatically recreates hills in Reidsville, North Carolina with the hill’s trees fading into the background and others, standing bigger than life, in the foreground. All through the painting are many vintage photos, of people who once inhabited the area, deeply planted into the earth, with some standing out like signs of time along the way.
artist statement Working from photos and sketches of the land, both in South Florida and my native North Carolina, I paint landscapes to reveal the true essence of the moment in which I first saw it. I paint in a representational style to depict the sky and part of the earth, but then I incorporate a layering process using squares of varying sizes, textures and specific imagery to complete the painting. These squares are painted using stencils and tape and are applied using a variety of tools. Other media are also used such as vintage black and white photos, my own black and white photos, gold leaf and oil stain.
