Ryan Mcginness Response

Ryan's lecture was very different from most artist lectures I have gone to. Most artists talk about their work for a majority of the lecture and then do a short question and answer session. This lecture seemed extremely question based and dealt less with concept. His work could be described as complicated, laid back, and design oriented because it seems heavily influenced by his early years immersed in the skater culture of VA Beach.

I found his work at the VMFA was the most interesting because it became a graphic design type piece that was directly influenced from art history. I found it extremely interesting that he successfully mixed work that had more commercial nature with a concept rooted in the fine arts. His quote "Art History is not linear" was extremely compelling because I felt it applied so well to this work.

My questions were not answered but I feel that the second one about if he was influenced by graffiti was somewhat answered. He seems very interested in icons, and logos rather than graffiti. The idea of identifiable icons is much more obvious in his work rather than graffiti.