Ryan Singer, the Laguna Beach, California based architect and founder of Singer Design, contributes his environmental and structural background in architecture to his rediscovered love of abstract painting. Ryan, son of award-winning architect, Mark Singer, reflects back on his love of art and design conversations often shared with his late father that would inspire, motivate, and challenge him to pave out a unique imprint on his creative capability. Ryan has undoubtedly followed in his father’s footsteps with architecture, interior, and furniture design. His design ethic and aesthetic is contemporary, functional, and timeless. Art has been his outlet for many years, although as of late it has been something that he feels he is ready to pursue more of on a professional level.
What was it that made you rediscover your love of painting? I went through a very difficult period in my life and painting had always been very therapeutic, instantly I would feel at ease and at peace. The studio space I created to paint felt somewhat “right” and it was very healing for me to explore and solve my feelings through art.
Where do you derive your inspiration from? I take a pulse of my internals as they call to me – whether a dream, intuition, or a subtle feeling is in passing; I’ll explore it and dive right in. We are our own wealth of wisdom. Sometimes, I’m amazed at my finds. They can be alarming and sometimes you realize the capacity of humans is amazing. It’s quite humbling and captivating, all at once.
What are your thoughts on using social media as a platform to showcase art? It’s a great roller coaster of a venue and I realize the compounding magnitude of influence that can happen with large followings en masse. It’s not a numbers game for me, but instead a way to debut my latest works.
How has your background as an architect, and son of an architect, enhanced your style of art? It keeps my brush working in very straight lines, haha. All joking aside, I do like using perpendicular directions. I do find myself interested in details of brush stroke and how light hits the various direction. In many ways, the work itself has an architectural feel. It’s nice to imagine my work in spaces I like to design. There’s actually a couple new pieces in contemplation which are more literal interpretations of architecture, and I’m very excited to get started on those.
RYAN SINGER CHECKLIST:
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM CREATIVE COLLABORATIVE ENDEAVOR? I’ve had this dream for a while – to work on a project solo with no client. I’d design everything from the art, structure, the landscape, interiors and build all the furniture and work with artisans who sew the cushions, linens, drapery, etc per my specification.
NAME YOUR POISON: I’m a bit of a water freak and I hear if you drink enough of it you can also die, so…
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: I’m still gathering data.
FAVORITE CITY: New York City is in my veins, and Florence comes in close second.
IF YOU WERE TO DANCE LIKE NOBODY IS WATCHING, WHAT WOULD BE THE SONG OF CHOICE: Unfortunately, my mom has already captured video of me rocking out to “Lithium” by Nirvana.
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT IN YOUR STUDIO? Light (that was easy.)
PROUDEST MOMENT: The birth of my two sons tops my list.
BEST ADVICE: Best advice was to try yoga back in 2000. That, and make water your drink of choice.
LIFE MOTTO: Be who you are.
Australian abstract artist Boe Sapun is the founder and curator of Ecume Gallery. The Melbourne-based gallery represents both local, international, established, and emerging contemporary art.
The idea of having great art accessible to a broad audience prompted the online gallery showcasing her own work, as well as a diverse range and ever-growing list of talented contributing artists.
Boe‘s passion is in discovering creative minds and understanding the finer nuances of their character which influence their process, inspiration, and art. Follow Boe Sapun and Écume Gallery on Instagram and Facebook.
