Ink and Pastel : Michelangelo Revisited.

The artistic journey of Liam Ryan spans Dublin, Michigan, and New York, resulting in a creative voice that balances classical discipline and contemporary energy. Born in Dublin and raised near Detroit, his fascination with the power of the mark began at age 12 upon discovering a picture book of the Sistine Chapel. This early spark led him to persue commercial illustration in Michigan before refining his mastery of form under the renowned American pastelist and oil painter Daniel E. Greene.
Following a prolonged detour as a singer-songwriter and commercial illustrator, Ryan has stripped away the noise to return to his roots in fine art. His current work The Blue Prints represents a pivital distillation in his practice. Moving beyond traditional portraiture, he now utalizes a signature ground of mid-tone Paynes Grey to re-imagine the silhouettes of the Masters from Michelangelo to Rembrant through a lens of bold expressionist mark-making.
Working exclusively in black and white on this atmospheric blue-grey ground, Ryan selects a specific medium for each study : oil pastel, marker, or acrylic. By intentionally scaling these intimate works into grand-format prints, he invites the viewer to experience the “architecture of the mark”. This process celebrates a raw, rhythmic energy – a visual cadance now fully reclaimed by his years as a songwriter and his ongoing study as a classical guitarist. The result transforms classical inspiration into monumental statements for refined, modern spaces.