Ryan McGinness

The True Knowledge of Things

2007

Ryan McGinness communicates complex and poetic concepts through an amalgam of icons and symbols. Using a very graphic visual vocabulary, McGinness creates a social commentary on the use of language as well as on historical and contemporary symbolism in marketing and mass culture.

He has, in turn, incorporated his symbols into designs for mass-produced goods such as T-shirts, skateboards, and soccer balls. Residing somewhere between abstraction and representation, his graphic drawings and personal iconography are replicated and recontextualized throughout his densely-layered paintings.

McGinness is interested in our innate desire to make sense of chaos and give meaning to seemingly abstract forms.