Calendar

"PLAY"
Ryder Richards

Richards provides a body of work concerned with viewer interaction and stimulating imagery.
The reception is on Friday, January 5th, 2007, from 6-9 PM during the citywide First Friday Art Trail. The exhibition will be viewable through Jan 26th, 2007.

PLAY: Ryder Richards

Richards presents his 2006 series of interactive works. The pieces reference childhood interests and games with the coloration and the playful sensibilities of the imagery. Upon closer inspection viewers will find that Richards makes social and personal commentaries with the inclusion of bottlecaps as a currency to play the games and most games offering an incomplete resolution. The pieces actually are designed to take advantage of our natural tendency to destroy, play and manipulate our environment; our will to win. The games are designed so that they only frustrate: if you win you are not sure what you won. The participant is rewarded with bottlecaps for punching or hitting a beloved icon or rewarded equally for hitting a despised symbol.
 

"Easy" provides a rigged game with a miniature bowling alley funneling the ball to strike a pin shaped as  business man. Only after the ball strikes the pin and bottle caps fall onto the bowling lane does the viewer also realize that the ball has shot back toward them as it falls from the art work. A humorous and loud piece that allows the viewer to strike and then pay the consequences of the ball rolling around the gallery and the bottle caps beign strewn about the floor. Pieces such as "Tri-Altar" play with the idea of having a painting that can change appearance based on the viewers preference. "Impossible" relates the naive construction of gears and belts to a Superman figure. The message being that the interaction with the piece, the ability to make the piece function would take a superhero with the ability to bend physical laws of nature.