Ryan Verzaal

Bio

Ryan Verzaal is a 2nd Year MFA student at the San Francisco Art Institute. His work frequently deals with issues of power and privilege often with a punk rock aesthetic. This winter he has upcoming works in exhibitions at the The Barber Shop (Los Angeles), The Chinati Foundation (Marfa, TX), The Orlando Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sao Paolo.

Statement

Ultimately as artists, we pride ourselves on our “investigatory” skills into other cultures, classes, movements and social structures. Most times, at no point in this process are we truly accepted as an insider or authority in the formal aspect, yet rather we pride ourselves on simply posing questions without answers in a visual format.

An aim of the global resistance movement it not only to deliberately and aggressively confront positions of inequity based on race, class and gender, forcing action rather than walk and talk (compared with say the global peace movement).

This piece ties together the literal and visual elements of the song “Shaved Women” by the 80's British feminist anarcho-punk band, Crass. With this work, much like the resistance movement, we are forced to question who or what is prompted to address and react this simple gesture. Both Western decadence within the framing and class sect of fine art as well as its coupling with fashion, music and free association cultures is set in sharp contrast of the ability to don traditional Muslim attire to emphasize the gross sexual and civil liberty violations that occur in every facet of life in Muslim countries... countries that we feel are being bullied by our current administration.

The next time you think “out of Iraq” or “stop antagonizing Iran”, think of whom you are standing up for. Does your anti-war stance come with an unwanted anti-feminist association? Progressive politics would indicate a yes... but who are we to say.