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KRK Ryden doesn’t confirm the pronunciation of his curated group art exhibition series, Is It Still Life? Is the emphasis on “still,” pointing to artistic still lifes, or is it on “life,” asking if this reality is still life? Both are accurate enough without either being the dominant phrasing. Of course, placing emphasis on any of the title’s words changes the meaning, but it’s all the same to Ryden. But there’s one nagging question: What if the answer to the show’s title by any definition is no?
“Some of the paintings kind of say that—‘it’s not life at all’—with things that are dead,” Ryden answers. “Not one person has done a straight still life, like painting a bowl of fruit as realistically as they could, which would be great. I’d welcome that.”
After the success of last year’s inaugural pop surrealism show at Brassworks Gallery—which included a miniature painting by his younger brother Mark that almost immediately sold for $20,000—Ryden says he’s bringing Is It Still Life? back to Portland every year. This year’s iteration opens March 14, with 35 artists in Brassworks’ main gallery, while its smaller space will host Ryden’s solo exhibition Wet Bread. Offering only the limitation that work cannot be bigger than 3 by 2 feet due to shipping costs, he admits that, two weeks before the show’s opening, he doesn’t fully know what it will look like.
“It’s something to keep me alive, man,” says Ryden, 72.
The Ryden brothers are prominent members of the pop surrealism art movement, which applies traditionally high art techniques to “lowbrow” pop and mass cultural references. There can sometimes be less interest in conveying a “deep” meaning than eliciting a quick, vivid reaction to the work. Ryden contributed art to underground newspapers early in his career. He designed album artwork for Devo, whose co-founder, Mark Mothersbaugh, is one of the artists he invited to exhibit.
While some of the artists this year are people Ryden knows, such as the painter Camille Rose Garcia, others were scouted through Instagram. He knows that connections can go a long way, but Ryden says a good curator never relies on relationships alone when putting together a successful art show.
“One thing that’s really drilled in my head is that galleries are responsible for mailing unsold art to the artists, and that’s a big part of their overhead,” he says. “It really puts the pressure on me to get artists that won’t have to return anything.”
Ryden believes that there will be seven sculptural “floor pieces” in Is It Still Life? 2, an increase from last year. Once the art is delivered, Brassworks curator Robin Weirich and her team will arrange and install each piece. Ryden says Weirich invited him to exhibit at Brassworks, but that he would have reached out if she hadn’t. They met by being shown in other group art shows together, and landed on the still life show after mutual discussion.
“There’s great artists out there painting in a garage somewhere, and they’re really good, and people don’t have any idea how to get connected,” Ryden says. “They don’t make the simple connection that you could go to a gallery and just talk to them, show them pictures and stuff…They just don’t understand that it’s a simple skip away to get to a gallery. It doesn’t have to be that formal, there’s nothing formal about it. Get the gallery owner to see your art.”
Ken the Magic Corner God, Ryden’s band, will play at Wet Bread’s opening reception. Some of his works feature rainbow-hue frames, including fur edges, depicting pastoral scenes with Day-Glo colors. Wet Bread includes a sculpture of a midcentury-style Easter bunny figure (who might nibble on the Devil’s Lettuce), a curvy painting of a grayscale besuited man outside in a fully colored world as a giant worm slithers on a lawn behind him, and an ostrich eggshell wearing a to-scale red Energy Hat that Devo made famous. Wet Bread got its title from a meeting with the actor Andy Dick, who enjoys its meaningless “Dadaistic” sound.
“He’s funny and kind of a lovable guy, but he’s just an off-the-hook crazy guy,” Ryden says. (Dick’s controversies are well cataloged; they include a decadeslong struggle with substance abuse and at least two arrests for sexual battery.)
Ryden is the oldest of five siblings, including Mark. Their father designed cars, and their mother was by Ryden’s description a talented drawer, but he believes that he and Mark owe their successes to the effort they put into their practices (Mark’s clients include peak-era Michael Jackson). Ryden rents from another brother in the Bay Area, but is looking forward to staying with Mark, who lives in Portland but won’t be showing at Brassworks this year. As he turns 73 on March 4, Ryden has one request of the shows’ reception guests: wear checkers.
SEE IT: Is It Still Life? 2 at Brassworks Gallery, 3022 NE Glisan St., 503-593-9311, brassworksgallery.com. 3–8 pm Wednesday–Saturday beginning March 14. Free.
