Ryan Romer is showing his work at Homer’s BunnellStreet Arts Center this month. His solo exhibition includes, print-making, painting and sculpture mixing traditional Yup’ik themes with pop art imagery and color. Romer’s show opened this past Friday and will remain up through May. KBBI News Director Daysha Eaton talks with Ryan Romer.
Daysha Eaton: “Tell me the name of your show – it looks like it is not English.”
Ryan Romer: “No its not. It’s a Yup’ik work, because I’m originally from Bethel. It is Ircinraat, which is a plural form, referring to the little people of the tundra and it refers to two of them rather than seeing one, you’re amongst two. Little people of the tundra, it’s folklore that is still out there today and still active on the tundra.
Daysha Eaton: “You said you’re from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, you grew up in Bethel and where do you live now?”
Ryan Romer: “I am currently in Anchorage. I’m based out of there as an artist. This is my first exhibition at the Bunnell Street [Arts Center]”
Daysha Eaton: “What will people see when they go to your show?”
Ryan Romer: “It shows traditional images that I use from growing up in the Y-K Delta and then putting a pop art sense with it, in some of the images. Then the sculpture pieces are really drawn in towards the viewer being part of it as a viewer because of the objects used in those pieces. So the variation goes from sculpture pieces made out of wood, human hair, copper and metal. So the show basically is a representation of who we are as people and how we see each other through this mask form, so as individuals we all portray our personal selves to others and that’s the mask we wear in life.”
Daysha Eaton: “You’re doing sculpture now, that’s a new type of work for you.”
Ryan Romer: “Yes, yes – I’m a print maker. I learned print making at UAA in Anchorage so I do a lot of print making in my work along with painting. So the show now has print making, painting images, and sculpture, so it’s a really big jump for me to do sculpture pieces along with my print making.”
Daysha Eaton: “What’s really striking about your work is that it really bridges the modern, urban life of Anchorage and being a Native in Anchorage and the rural Alaska life and of being a Native in rural Alaska. Do you want to talk about that?”
Ryan Romer: “Yes, one of the pieces deals with migration from the standpoint of, I recognize a lot of families coming from the villages, coming to Anchorage with hopes of making a new life and new dreams happen and finding work. And then when they get here they find the hardships of living in a big city. A lot of them don’t know how to deal with it so they get overwhelmed and they find themselves migrating from one place to the next within Anchorage.”
Daysha Eaton: “Why do you use such bright colors in your work?
Ryan Romer: “It provokes happiness. It provokes that feeling that there is hope for what you’re doing and the vision that you have as an individual is possible as long as you keep that bright outlook on life that anything is possible. It doesn’t matter where you come from, if you’re going to make that bold move then you’re going to have very bold, good results from it, is what I believe. My artwork carries this contemporary edge with the traditional imagery and the bright colors just add to that.”
Daysha Eaton: “A theme in your art is masks, why do masks come and go and weave their way in and out of your work?”
Ryan Romer: “In the opening of my show speech, of my presentation for my show tonight, the headliner said, ‘Ryan Romer, the artist; my nationality is human being.’ So the mask covers that – you know you’re such and such race or you’re such and such race, whereas if I put it in mask form, we’re all the same people. We all delve back to that individuality of being human beings, regardless of nationality.”
Daysha Eaton: “Is there anything that I didn’t ask you about that you want to make sure that people understand about your show?”
Ryan Romer: “Well, the show itself consists of print making and sculpture pieces that all correlate to the fact that we as individuals, no matter what our nationality might be, need to take a step back and realize that we’re humans at this point, that we need to stay with the human factor of recognition towards each other and that we all have values even though we may not look or act the same and that we’re here for a reason, especially in Homer. A lot of us are drawn to Nature or our cause might be to change the way people think of the areas that they are living in, due to the cultural impact that has been here already. So, finding ways to have these two entities of thought coincide with each other, I think, is going to make a very big impact on the future of what we’re going for as neighbors. I hope everyone gets the chance to go down there and see it before it ends in the end of May.
Daysha Eaton: Thanks, Ryan.
Ryan Romer: Thank you.
