Review | Riley Ragland is a c...

Generated on 2022-01-25 09:35:34

Result #1

Riley Ragland is a contemporary artist that creates work with the central themes of femininity, sexuality, and self. Ragland works with diverse and unconventional mediums such as: flower petals, nail polish, sequin, money, coins and more. In her earlier work, she explores intersections between nature and vaginal imagery. In her later work, she explores beauty and perception of self through still life and different approaches to self portraiture. While her focus has changed, juxtaposition between realism and abstraction has always been a primary focus. She draws inspiration from artists such as: Georgia O'Keeffe, Hannah Wilke, Rene Magritte, and Cindy Sherman. _________________________________________________________________________The artist has been a participant in a growing number of group shows in New York, and the pieces in her recent show at the Guggenheim Gallery were part of the first group show by a woman. The works, all untitled, are an extension of Raglands interest in the themes of self and art. All are carefully composed, with careful placement of objects and objects. The subject matter of the pieces ranges from the mundane to the fantastic, from the everyday to the bizarre. In the installation The Last Supper, 1992, Ragland has taken a women-only banquet to a mythical place of feast. Her character, the goddess Hephaestion, is a famous figure in Greek mythology, and Raglands use of her as a model for the goddess in her own work has led to many variations. In this installation, she appears in a bikini-clad position, with an open cup of a sweet-sweet beverage, a sword in her hand. She is surrounded by a group of small, nude figures that dance in a circle around her. This group of dancers is made up of women who are naked and who have sex. The figures are depicted as if in a trance, and the images are as powerful as they are humorous. The images are manipulated so as to create a sense of motion and movement, of unconscious movement. A guitar rests on a pedestal in a large white room. The guitar has a large hole in the top so that it can be played, and a string of a guitar lies on the floor. It seems that Ragland is manipulating the strings of the guitar to play the strings on the stringed instrument. A large red light shines on the stringed instrument. The room is covered in a thin layer of a thick red light. The red light seems to move toward the viewer, which moves toward the image, only to disappear into it again as it disappears into the red light.

Result #2

Riley Ragland is a contemporary artist that creates work with the central themes of femininity, sexuality, and self. Ragland works with diverse and unconventional mediums such as: flower petals, nail polish, sequin, money, coins and more. In her earlier work, she explores intersections between nature and vaginal imagery. In her later work, she explores beauty and perception of self through still life and different approaches to self portraiture. While her focus has changed, juxtaposition between realism and abstraction has always been a primary focus. She draws inspiration from artists such as: Georgia O'Keeffe, Hannah Wilke, Rene Magritte, and Cindy Sherman. Her latest work is similar in approach to the work of these predecessors, but with a more abstracted, figurative form that allows for a more direct use of her inventive vocabulary.The work in this exhibition consisted of six pieces, all with a single, distinct title, the artist's name written in black marker on a white ground. Each piece was made up of three separate pieces of paper and hung in a row along the wall, like a page from a book. Each sheet featured the artist's face, with the signature of the artist's signature and a small, two-dimensional marker line. The two drawings, all from 1988, were also used as a starting point for Ragland's development. The drawings depict a group of people in various stages of activity, and are always elaborately composed and drawn in black marker. Each sketch is accompanied by a small drawing of a hand, with the hand's signature and the artists' initials. The drawings and sketches are then painted over with a transparent layer of paint, creating a crudely rendered image. In one piece, the figures are caught in a pose of sexual self-expression. The one-sided dialogue between the male and female figures, in which the male is more than aware of the female's presence, is accompanied by a large drawing of a hand, which is also suggestive of self-portraiture. In another piece, the female figure is standing alone, her head slightly bowed. The hand that appears in the drawing of her body is the artists' hand, which is represented by a large drawing of a hand and a small, two-dimensional drawing of a hand. The female figures body is the male's body. The hand is represented by a drawing of a hand with the sign of the hand, the sign of the hand and the hand's signature. The hand's signature is also an image of the hand, as it is also the sign of the hand's presence.

Result #3

Riley Ragland is a contemporary artist that creates work with the central themes of femininity, sexuality, and self. Ragland works with diverse and unconventional mediums such as: flower petals, nail polish, sequin, money, coins and more. In her earlier work, she explores intersections between nature and vaginal imagery. In her later work, she explores beauty and perception of self through still life and different approaches to self portraiture. While her focus has changed, juxtaposition between realism and abstraction has always been a primary focus. She draws inspiration from artists such as: Georgia O'Keeffe, Hannah Wilke, Rene Magritte, and Cindy Sherman. This exhibition is a critical look at Raglands work and her relationship to femininity.Raglands installation is a lively and unpredictable combination of her signature floral arrangements and the organic surfaces of coins and currency. The coins are arranged in a gridlike pattern, and are arranged in a way that interlocks multiple images of individual coins. In a corner of the gallery, Ragland placed two coins in the same position, one on top of the other, and one above the other. This juxtaposition of the two coins and their complementary placement in a corner seems to be a direct reference to the duality of feminine and masculine. The coin atop the coin below is a graphic sign that says, DOLLARE. A coin that is both feminine and masculine, feminine and masculine, is juxtaposed in a way that alludes to the duality of physical and mental development. The coin is juxtaposed with the money that represents the feminine. The coins are arranged in a way that interlocks multiple images of individual coins. In a corner of the gallery, Ragland placed two coins in the same position, one on top of the other, and one above the other. This juxtaposition of the two coins and their complementary placement in a corner seems to be a direct reference to the duality of feminine and masculine. The coin atop the coin below is a graphic sign that says, DOLLARE. A coin that is both feminine and masculine, feminine and masculine, is juxtaposed in a way that alludes to the duality of physical and mental development. The coin atop the coin below is a graphic sign that says, DOLLARE. The coin atop the coin below is a graphic sign that says, DOLLARE. The coins are arranged in a way that interlocks multiple images of individual coins. In the center of the gallery, Ragland placed a single coin on top of a coin that is a reproduction of a reproduction of a reproduction of a reproduction of a reproduction.

Result #4

Riley Ragland is a contemporary artist that creates work with the central themes of femininity, sexuality, and self. Ragland works with diverse and unconventional mediums such as: flower petals, nail polish, sequin, money, coins and more. In her earlier work, she explores intersections between nature and vaginal imagery. In her later work, she explores beauty and perception of self through still life and different approaches to self portraiture. While her focus has changed, juxtaposition between realism and abstraction has always been a primary focus. She draws inspiration from artists such as: Georgia O'Keeffe, Hannah Wilke, Rene Magritte, and Cindy Sherman. The most successful pieces in this show were the large-scale works, which are based on Raglands experience as an artist in a studio, and on her interest in the body. The show consisted of four large-scale works, all from 1990. The larger works, which incorporate small-scale floral motifs, are all based on a series of small, semiabstract images that relate to the body. The flower petals are rendered in a variety of styles, and are arranged in a hierarchy of feminine characteristics. The arrangement of these tiny works on paper is reminiscent of a baby-blue, colorful painting. The petals are arranged in a layered field of very different colors. The arrangements are not always symmetrical, and the most successful pieces are those in which the patterns are more self-reflective.The larger works, which are hung on the wall, are more traditional abstractions. In one, a red flower with a blue petal stands out against a white background. The juxtaposition of the red and the white is symbolic. The red is the sign of femininity, while the white represents the feminine. The petals are arranged in a grid formation that repeats the grid structure of the larger work. The grid structure of the larger work emphasizes the various areas of the body, while the grid structure of the smaller works emphasizes the process of drawing and the process of looking at the surface of the paper. This is the case in both the large and the small works.Raglands drawings of her own body are often done in the studio. In one, a hand, hand, hand is repeated against a white background. The drawing of the hand is a self-portrait, but the self-portrait is also a self-portrait. The drawing of the hand is in a way similar to the self-portrait, but the drawing is less obvious and the drawing more complicated.

Result #5

Raglands art is all about the ways in which we see the world, see who we are, and see what we see.