Ryan Staley
Peeling Back the Abstract Layers of a Mixed Media Collage Artist
Tell me a little bit about your story. What brought you to this moment in your artistic development?
I'm Ryan. I was born in Ohio, and I'm 33 years old.
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was around 9 years old and was medicated until I turned 18. It's a big part of who I am and something that I express a great deal and in various ways all throughout my work.
That aside, I have always been drawn to the arts, specifically drawing. From as early as I can remember, anyway. The earliest projects I remember were grand diagrams of the Titanic or WW2 era battleships. I was infatuated with them. As I began to get older and develop new interests I moved to tracing or (sloppily) free-handing anime characters. RIP Toriyama.
Eventually, I found a great passion for gaming and Photoshop. I was into a variety of racing games but my biggest love was an arena shooter called Unreal Tournament. The mod community in UT was massive and inspiring. I was soon creating my own skins and levels, as well as signatures on the message boards for the many online communities these games spawned.
There was a point in high school where I found myself fascinated by architecture, and had a half-baked desire to become an architect. This led me to taking mechanical drawing and drafting classes, only to learn that there was too much math involved for me to want to continue.
Sometime in my early 20's, my PC died on me and I was separated from Photoshop for nearly a decade. In the years after I was very into 'Tumblr era' photography and mostly just took photos of things that interested me or documented my adventures to some regard, but never really took it seriously.
Sometime in 2020, I built a new machine and in the coming years found my way back to Photoshop. It was coping with a devastating breaking up that propelled me into creating abstract art. Abstraction opened many new channels for connection and I spent a good year or two observing Web3 before deciding to throw my hat into the ring and haven't looked back since.
Why do you make the type of art that you make? What does it do for you? Why do you think you are attracted to this style (or styles)?
Sometimes I like to say it's because I struggle to work with figurative subjects. Despite one of my earliest passions being drawing, it's not something I am very skilled in. I also have no art education beyond what public school provided and YouTube art docs have taught me.
That being said, I was always intrigued by surrealism. I remember seeing many surrealist paintings as a child and was fascinated by how they closely resembled the real world, but managed to be detached enough from the tangible to allow my young mind to wander. My love for the surreal eventually led me to abstraction, even when creating work focused on figurative characters, the backdrops and landscapes I crafted around them were always abstracted.
When I discovered Rothko I found my desire for the minimal - and I would say that his work is probably my biggest influence - especially in my most recent works.
As for what it does for me and why I'm attracted to it, it's gotta be the ambiguity of it all. Despite my intention or whatever the piece might mean to me, once it leaves my hands it belongs to the world. The beauty of abstraction is its ability to take on a variety of different meanings for different people. It encourages a deeper conversation with the self.
As an artist of any medium, we often have at least one piece that we feel really captures the essence of what we’re trying to express in our work. It often happens early in our career and paves the way for the rest our work, but it can also happen later as a culmination of our efforts. Which piece is this for you? Explain.
God, this is a hard question. My gut choice is to go with ‘you exist only in anecdotes’.
We are mortal creatures, entropy will see our end—the idea is to embrace that. Death isn't to be feared; it is merely the destination, and while we're here, we should focus our energy on spreading love.
What do you hope people get out of your work? What do you want them to feel, notice, or otherwise, when looking at your work?
My hope is for people to slow down and move at their own pace, allow themselves to love and be loved, myself included.
There is a lot to be found within the details of my work, and discovering those things commands your full attention, but you have to want to give it in the first place.
Are there any recurring symbols or motifs in your work, and what do they represent? Are these conscious choices, or something you realized was happening automatically? *
Entropy, I suppose is the main motif, at least lately, which is a conscious choice. Color blocks as well, or just rectangular shapes in general, an intentional juxtaposition of more gestural markings. Snakes, currency, memes, text, all placed intentionally.
Do you ever deal with self-doubt or other intrusive thoughts that get in the way of your ability to create? If so, how do you navigate this?
As someone with ADHD, my mood fluctuates all the damn time. Self-doubt and imposter syndrome were very rough in my first year working in Web3, to the point that it crept into my work and even affected the way I priced my work at the time. As time has passed, I feel more confident in what I am doing and I recognize it as something that I am gifted with and that I wish to pursue for the rest of my life, and I wouldn't dare let anything stand in the way of that.
As far as intrusive thoughts go, I deal with them as well. Not as frequently over the last year as I am in a much healthier state of mind now. But I have often ideated suicide, self-harm, and I deal with occasional paranoia that I attribute to excessive LSD use in my early 20's. I cope with these things through meditation, hiking, and spending time with my friends. I was in therapy for a brief time but have since discovered the greatest therapy for me personally has come during the creative process.
Can you share an instance where a project didn’t go as planned? (Maybe it wasn’t received well by the audience, failed to get completed, or otherwise.) Did you learn anything from this experience?
So many different failures come to mind, but I think the one that impacted me the most was a piece I started shortly after completing 'nepotism and eternal recurrence'. The two pieces were, at the time, to be the beginning of an entirely new series of work, very closely related in composition and medium.
Unfortunately, about two weeks into the second piece, my PC automatically updated to Windows 11 while I was away and for whatever reason, the file for the new piece was not backed up. I lost weeks of work in an instant and was absolutely devastated. So much so that I didn't make anything for months. I eventually pivoted and included the first of those two pieces in what is now the 'Meditations' collection on OBJKT.
Greatest lesson? Especially in digital art, save your work OFTEN.
Do you listen to music while you work on art? If so, what and why?
Always. I primarily listen to instrumental music while I'm working. A lot of jazz, experimental, electronic, and droning metal. I'll link my Apple Music playlist for anyone who may be interested.
When do you work on your art?
I feel like I'm always working on something, even if it's as simple as taking notes. But most of my work is done in the morning or late at night. It's never been something that I could force, so when the desire strikes, I try to run with it.
How do you typically begin a project? Do you use a physical sketchbook?
I have a few sketchbooks, though I don't really draft projects. I use them to craft components for my projects. Most of what I do starts with photography. And most of what you might consider "sketching" is just a few lines in my notes app about how I'm feeling, a piece of art, or a thought that inspired me.
Color is an unavoidable component in the visual arts. How do you think about color? What source do you use when building color palettes?
Since I primarily work in a flow state, it really all comes from what I'm feeling in the moment. I have a pretty rudimentary understanding of color theory. Anything I know has come from practice. Though I would say, generally, I relate colors to specific emotions. Sometimes I'll have a specific feeling or color in mind but will make an alteration that is aesthetically pleasing and the entire mood will sidetrack as a result (I blame ADHD, lol). But I try to see this as an opportunity and allow this to happen. It helps keep me in the moment.
What are the essential tools used in your craft?
My phone, camera, sketchbook, procreate, and photoshop.
What is a technique you’ve developed or discovered in your process that you think would help other artists?
I’m not sure that I'm doing anything people haven't heard of, but I will say - the eraser tool works great as a paintbrush.
What educational resources or other materials have been helpful in developing your craft?
Everything I know about Photoshop I learned from various tutorials on DeviantArt in the early 2000s.
You’ve minted art on several blockchains. What is your reason for doing this? What are the key differences you’ve noticed on each one? Do you have a preference?
I will always maintain that Tezos is a home and a nurturing ground of experimentation for new artists, and veterans alike. The Tezos community is so welcoming and whimsical, it reminds me of my childhood. It feels like a place to truly be myself and know that can be whatever the hell I desire.
As for Solana—and I am pretty new to this market, but it feels like a place where abstract art is taken very seriously, which I like. I received immediate love and respect from creators and collectors upon minting my first work, and it's been a pleasure to be making new friends and connections.
Ultimately, I'm on two chains because I want to make a living doing this, and doing so requires reach. Simultaneously, I have great qualms with consumption, and thus have a great moral constraint at the idea of joining ETH and BTC, which limits my ability to reach potential connections. I am also very poor.
There are a lot of great platforms to mint artwork on nowadays. How do you navigate this? Is there a strategy? Do you have a favorite?
I absolutely love Exchange. Granted, the only other marketplace I am on is Objkt. The accessibility of Exchange is just wonderful. It's so easy to mint, and the exhibition feature allows me to display my work as close to how I intend it to be seen as a web page will allow.
What is your approach to pricing?
Pretty simple—it's almost entirely related to the amount of time I've spent on a work. As I see my skills developing and I begin to take my time more seriously, prices have adjusted.
A bear market can be discouraging for artists in web3. One of the reasons you’re here with me today is because you’re one of the people who have persevered and continued releasing art. What are your thoughts and approach to this?
Lack of sales can be very discouraging, and as someone who, until recently, did not have great success in that category, I get it entirely. However, creating is one of my greatest passions, and I have no intention of stopping regardless of whether or not anyone wants to buy. Fortunately, I was employed during the bear market and wasn't relying on creation as a primary source of income, and I still don't. Though it is something that I am working towards.
Can you give us any hints or insight into what you’re working on right now? Is there anything you’re particularly interested in at the moment?
As of right now, I am continuing to allow the ‘discovery // invention’ (Tezos, Solana) series evolve. However, I am stewing on some new ideas. Potentially a venture into glitch. I also have some plans to create more physical work, some sculpture, some contemporary work, and potentially another gallery show. Time will tell.
Who are two or three artists you’d like more people to discover?
* = Question inspired by Atelier
Ryan Staley’s links
Personal Website: itsryab.com
Social: 𝕏, solarplex, Farcaster, Instagram
NFT Art: Objkt, Exchange, Spatial
Thanks for reading!
Be sure to check out previous edition of Artist Spotlight, as well as Abstract Art Analysis and Education & Opinion.
 | A guest post by
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I like this interview and questioning, reveals a lot about the artist. Ryan, when you have a moment have a look at Solarplex. They built a social platform for SOL where you can mint and discuss direct with artists and collectors. Good way to build genuine relationships and to get wider exposure. Some really good abstract and conceptual artists and you have the likes of DAMzine.xyz community on now with their own channel. And pixeltoy the editior from Shill magazine etc. you’ll need to test it for pricing but be prepared to do Free Mints as well. Hope this helps. Yell out to me if you like.