"con.Text," by Bryan Ida
Curated by Mika Cho
January 25 to February 27, 2021

The exhibition presents a series of 16 life-sized portraits made with thousands of strokes of the black pen portraying dramatic personal stories and historical documents that unfolded with many issues including racism, civil rights, human rights, and man’s inhumanity toward man.

con.Text: ARTIST STATEMENT by Bryan Ida

“con.Text” is a series of 16 life-sized portraits that relate historical events and documents to the lives of the subjects who are in some way connected to current times. The portraits examine a broad range of subjects including racism, civil rights, human rights, and man’s inhumanity toward man.

The intent of this series is to portray individuals as the embodiment of strength and pride standing defiantly in the face of oppression and fear by a power against them. With the current social and political environment and the recent acts that repeat past abuse and injustice, I am attempting to view historic events in the context of the contemporary climate.

I research and reference text from government documents, declarations or other forms of institutional communication and use the words as my mark to render each person with the very words that affect them. Using the word as a building block in the formation of the image does not label or define the subject by the words being used, instead the words are blended together and blurred and they are transformed from a label to a broader gesture that is used to define a new visual standard of vitality and beauty.

The prevailing social and political climate and the shift in attitudes and actions in this country and around the world have directed us to a crossroads. Do we take action or ignore it and live a separate, disconnected life? What was once hope and optimism has been dragged down by racism and fear. An artist has the ability to craft a response that mines an acute sensitivity toward human suffering and an ability to express the human condition in creative and imaginative ways.

Every person has a history that relates to the subjects of these portraits. I have a personal connection to each subject of the portraits and as I absorb their stories of courage and triumph over oppression, I am reminded we live with these truths on a daily basis and each narrative has a relevance and power all its own and they deserve to be felt and heard. A person’s story is a lifetime of experience and learning to get to this point in time and we all share in parts of the biography that depict struggle, grief, perseverance, and strength.

More about Bryan Ida: https://bryanida.com/

Images below are linked to videos.