Portland, ME
10/1/10 7:21 PM
Kyle Bryant has taken the cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words and turned it into a series of unfathomably complex and compelling woodcuts and silkscreens that have nothing clichéd about them. “The Forever Endeavor” speaks of travel in spaces urban and rural, of climbing old city stairs and even older rocky cliffs. “Escapist” tells the story of a man and the sea, dock labor and seaside homes old and new. Others relate tales of cities full of skyscrapers and towers, boardwalks and modest residences, concrete and wood, marble and dust. Some of these works are modestly sized; others are so enormous as to defy standard printing. All collapse entire narratives, entire worlds, into single images that cohere graphically and read legibly—but never too legibly. That would make for a boring story indeed. And a real one, which these do not pretend to be, at least not for long. For in the end Bryant’s works are not telling a story so much as depicting the way that stories—also known as individual lives and experiences—feel, by visualizing them as recognizable places.
—Lori Waxman