Arting with ABE and Bockhaus
Bock holds Ego Eagle
Words and Photos by ABE Titus
Among the many art studios in the converted warehouses of East Williamsburg, one stands out for its fidelity to black-and-white sensibilities. Well except for the artist, Ryan Bock aka @bockhaus; he’s certainly a colorful character.
On my way to Ryan Bock’s studio in Brooklin.
Bock welcomed me to his work digs the other day, a severe space set up for serious work. Bock’s oeuvre consists largely of paintings rendered in acrylic on canvas, with few exceptions in black, white and shades of gray. There are also sculptures, including a brilliant chess set constructed from cast-off wooden piano parts.
It is clear from his work’s clean and austere design, its hue toward minimalism and art deco, its embrace of geometry and symmetry and its renunciation of color why Bock looked to the early 20th century school of art, design and architecture Bauhaus for his nom de art. He’s also a fan, by the way, of the pioneering post-punk goth band Bauhaus.
Bock’s practice is rooted in a need for narrative structure. Residing somewhere between mythology and nightmare, Bock depicts mise-en-scène riddled with symbology and allusions both cinematic and painterly. He is fascinated by shape, shade, shadow, structure and optical illusion.
Bock’s work has been shown around the country and abroad (his exhibit at the 2019 Urban Art Fair in Paris was particularly well received.) Still, he is best known in his home city, including three shows with Ki Smith Gallery, among the LES’s most innovative and appealing spaces now locatd at 170 Forsyth.
His work focuses on the correlations between the human figure and its innovations: technology, architecture and religion—both historically and fictitiously. By consistently contrasting historical subjects with those of the present, and using the recurring patterns found to generate predictions about our future—a process he refers to as ‘dusty futurism’—Bock propels his audience to reconsider the routine human experience and discloses the illusions implemented to keep them from questioning.
In addition to paintings, drawings and sculpture, Bock also dabbles in puppetry, animation and experimental film methods.
