Bicycle is one of Ryan Johnson’s newest free-standing sculptures, part of his exhibition “Self Storage” on view October 27 through December 15 at the Suzanne Geiss Company. At first glance it appears to be a Kokopelli-inspired figure, cruising along hands-free on a bike whose movement has been rendered in a kinetic, Cubist style. But look closer and you’ll see that there are actually three eccentric figures atop that seat: a man, a woman, and a small child. “It’s a family on a bicycle now,” says Johnson, “which is kind of what the show’s about—reflecting this mid-thirties entrance into adulthood. People getting married, divorced, starting families—or not. Bicycle has a bit of that in it—not like it’s out of your control, but you don’t know how it’s going to change your life.” Johnson, 34, has been thinking about such decisions on a very personal level. He’s married to the painter Dana Schutz; they don’t currently have children, but clearly a certain anxious curiosity is at play in the new work. Case in point: Another sculpture is inspired by a friend of Johnson’s who recently became a father and now journeys around town “with a baby strapped to his chest.” The artist’s poetic translation of this image involves a figurative sculpture of a man with a large head growing out of his stomach, “almost like he’s pregnant with it.”
To see Modern Painters studio visit with Ryan Johnson, click on the video below:
A version of this article appears in the November 2012 issue of Modern Painters.