RYAN SCHNEIDER, Ritual For Letting Go, NY 

In April 2014, Coburn Projects and Two Rams presented its second solo exhibition 'Ritual for Letting Go' featuring works by New York artist Ryan Schneider.

For 'Ritual for Letting Go', Schneider explores the mysteries of the night and the essential truths the darkness reveals within the natural world and within him. In the tradition of Rousseau, Matisse, and Gauguin, the island becomes fertile ground for discovering ancient energies and animal instincts. El Diablo, the centerpiece of the exhibition, depicts a mask hovering over a star-lit purple sky peering through the jungle leaves. A mask can be used to hide from the world, to obstruct being truly seen. At the same time that disengagement can give the wearer an opportunity to focus deep inside one’s dark corners, to find inner strength and healing. The duality of the mask is a potent metaphor for the process of self-discovery. Ritual for Letting Go explores the artist’s interest in spiritual growth, devotion to nature and magic.

For this body of work, Schneider approaches the canvas without a formal plan, letting his body’s implicit rhythm take over so that he can paint unconsciously and give space for the painting to determine its own being.

Ryan Schneider is a Brooklyn-based painter with a BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art. Recent exhibitions include Scheids and Heids at Bendixen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Cast a Shadow at Hezi Cohen, Tel Aviv, and group shows with Bleecker Street Arts Club, the Hole, and Louis B. James gallery. He participated in the Lower Manhattan’s Cultural Council Artist-in-Residency program in 2010/2011. Schneider’s work has been featured in Modern Painters, The New Yorker, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, among other prestigious publications. 

TWO RAMS is a contemporary art gallery on the Bowery in New York City established by Tali Wertheimer and Brandon Coburn. In addition to curating exhibitions in-house, Two Rams collaborates with prominent galleries from important art centers around the world to bring ambitious and adventurous projects to New York.