SERIES: SUM OF DESTRUCTIONS

The "Sum of Destructions" series, of which this work is a part, began in 2004 with Bryan Ryley's powerful response to a preparatory sketch for Picasso's Guernica. Ryley scanned and enlarged the striking outlines of a hand gripping a broken sword, making it the foundational "matrix" for a suite of twelve works on paper and the underlying drawing for his large painting.

The paper works themselves are a testament to Ryley's deep engagement with the subject matter. Each piece is constructed on a digital print of the central motif, then layered with acrylic, ink, gouache, graphite, and collage on 140 lb BFK Rives Rag Paper (22x30”), maintaining a consistent image size of 13x24”. These varied media were applied with an intensity driven by Ryley's reflections on the atrocities of war and the world community's involvement and response. Liz Wylie, Curator at the Kelowna Art Gallery, notes, "The notion of coming to grips with Picasso is something that has faced other artists as well, and it forms an homage of sorts this suite of works by Bryan Ryley, as well as a fruitful jumping off point for his own meditations on war in the twenty-first century." This series was exhibited at the Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC, from November 7, 2009, to January 10, 2010.