Enlightened Abstractions: Ryan Cosbert
Updated: Apr 4
Mauri, 2021
Ryan Cosbert
African American Painter
Conceptual, Abstract
New York, NY
ArtMatch Value Score*: Promising
Ryan Cosbert (b. 1999) is an artist whose practice explores historical and modern themes related to the African diaspora while also exploring the formal properties of materials and modern design principles.
Cosbert’s work is rooted in research. She deeply explores a topic and carefully chooses her medium before composing it on canvas or paper. Her formal and self-guided education informs her creative practice, grounding it in formal principles with a fresh take on a variety of topics. Centering her subject matter on the African diaspora, Cosbert aims to create beautiful works that also spark curiosity about the inspiration behind them, thus leading to deeper levels of cultural awareness and spiritual development. In her budding career, Cosbert has had a number of successful exhibitions including her most recent solo exhibition at UTA Artist Space. She also just completed a residency program in London with PM/AM Gallery, in Mayfair, and currently has a group show with them.
"When it comes to embodying a higher consciousness and spiritual uplift, my main goal is to enlighten people."
Ryan's Story
Ryan Cosbert was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1999. The daughter of a Guyanese mother and a Haitian father, she grew up between New York and Virginia Beach, VA, settling in New York for college and to start her career. Cosbert is a 2021 graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, following the footsteps of her mother who attended the same establishment. In her first years of college, Cosbert explored working with silkscreen printmaking, photography and drawing. During her sophomore year, she started to experiment with abstraction, inspired by artists such as Sam Gilliam, Jack Whitten, Alma Thomas, Frank Bowling and Rashid Johnson. She created her first abstract piece in 2020 titled Chronic Soul which contains black-eyed peas, yams, and watermelon seeds, a reference to staples of West African diets that were brought to America and became staples of diets in the South.
In high school, Cosbert started her own research of history related to the African Diaspora when she felt that she wasn't learning much of relevance in her AP classes. She also felt the desire to discuss the things she was learning with her friends and family, who craved the same information. From there, Cosbert developed a link between her research and her work. Her practice aims to foster knowledge and the learning of one’s origins and roots, to feed and cultivate a curiosity around it. She sees it as the first step toward spiritual development. Cosbert's work engages with the audience, captivates attention with rich texture and meticulously chosen details that have a great significance.
Chronic Soul, 2020
Enamel, black-eyed peas, yams, watermelon seeds, and gel medium on canvas
60 x 46 in
Ryan's Aesthetic
Cosbert's work often features a structured tiled format, which looks like a form of grid on the canvas. The tiles reference childhood memories of her mother's tiled décor on the kitchen floor, in the bathrooms and on walls. When she is not using this format, her works are executed with gestural brushstrokes or drip painting effects.
As she's developed, Cosbert has traded enamel for other mixed media elements and oil painting for acrylic on canvas. She is very much interested in texture, and layers, seeing the works as sculptural. This facet of her work is rendered by the specific and unique formula for her mixture she creates but also in the material she includes in her works such as fishnets, watermelon seeds, Bristol board, tile grout, large scale fabrics, and bullet casings. The latter was used in her Murder Mayhem triptych, which she started the week of George Floyd’s killing in late 2020. The work intends to strongly denounce police brutality in the US in the Black community. She used the colours red, white, and blue to symbolize police sirens, but also the American flag. In all of her work, she uses vibrant colours that are carefully selected after research carried out on their representation.
Murder Mayhem, 2020 (triptych)
Acrylic and bullet casings on canvas
46 x 46 in each
Another meaningful example would be her works titled Port au Prince and George Town, both paintings dedicated to her parents (Port au Prince is the capital of Haiti and George Town is the capital of British Guyana). They are circular paintings, with lines and shapes seeming to imitate a globe, the colours referencing the flags of each country. She also used sand in the paintings as a reference to Caribbean beaches.
Ryan Cosbert’s work asks the viewer to physically interact with it and see the texture, where layers sit similar to roots, mind and body in humans: to uncover one’s layers requires research and attention to then acquire knowledge and comprehension of oneself.
Georgetown / Port Au Prince, 2021
Acrylic on wooden panel
23 in each
Ryan's Process
Cosbert’s process always starts with a subject that she thoroughly investigates for a period of approximately 3 months. Her research includes a combination of readings, video documentaries, and site visits which feed the development of a series of work, and gives her inspiration for new materials and media to incorporate into the work.
Ryan uses a custom formula for the base of many of her compositions which give it unique, three-dimensional, sculptural effects. Informed by her former silkscreen printing experience, Cosbert applies layers upon layers - often 5 to 10 - using a squeegee to swipe paint across the canvas for the base layers. She then creates shapes with her formula on specific areas of the painting. She has recently been incorporating design principles from midcentury-modern furniture design. First attracted by the silhouette of a table, her research on the topic has helped her further enhance the construction of her work and its visual effects.
Market Information
Cosbert has actively shown at gallery shows and art fairs since 2021. Her work is currently on view at PM/AM Gallery in London where she recently completed a residency. Earlier this year, she wrapped up a major solo exhibition titled The Past Is The Future And The Future Is Now at UTA Artist Space in Atlanta, GA. She has also had solo exhibitions with Luce Gallery in Turin, Italy and Undercurrent in Brooklyn, NY. In 2022, she participated in the art fairs Untitled Miami, Dallas Art Fair, and 1-54 in NY and London.
Video
Watch Ryan discuss her practice in this studio visit with Phillips:
References
ArtMatch interview with Ryan Cosbert (February 17, 2023)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ryan-cosbert/id1473030334?i=1000514808311
https://burnaway.org/magazine/in-conversation-with-ryan-cosbert/
https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2021/12/06/ryan-cosbert-paints-a-new-portrait-of-history
*The ArtMatch Value Score is our assessment of the likelihood of the artist's work to hold or appreciate in value. Numerical scores are calculated based on a combination of variables, including but not limited to type of gallery representation, number of solo shows, quality of collector base, number of pieces sold at auction. Scores are summarized to one of three ranking categories: emerging, promising, and strong. Note this does not constitute official investment advice and is given purely as an input to help assess artists from a value perspective.