Photo by Evan Jenkins

Ryan Travis Christian

b. 1983, Oakland, CA / Chicagoland, IL

The nostalgic and contemporary collide in Ryan Travis Christian’s practice, in which vintage animation aesthetics are coupled with humorous, surreal narratives drawn from his suburban Chicago upbringing. While Ryan has worked in primarily black and white for most of his career, the artist has recently introduced limited palettes of brown and yellow in his oil painting. Benchwarmers (2024) marked Ryan’s first-ever color print.

Ryan Travis Christian’s solo and two-person shows include Over the Influence, Hong Kong; Ross+Kramer Gallery in New York, NY; Arsham/Fieg Gallery in New York, NY; Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA; the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC; and The Hole in New York. His work has been included in group shows in Antwerp, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Detroit, Los Angeles, London, New York, Paris, Reykjavik, Rotterdam, San Francisco, and Toronto, and has been written about in frieze, ArtNews, Art Papers, Juxtapoz Magazine, New American Paintings, Artsy, Artspace, Daily Serving, Indy Week and by the Associated Press. DAZED recently named Christian as one of the “top ten artists working with monochrome.”