
A TEAR FOR GEOFFREY 2
2017
In this intimate graphite drawing, Ryan Travis Christian renders a solitary cartoon-adjacent figure caught in a moment of quiet grief, the single tear of the title tracing a path down a simplified face with disarming economy of line. The work belongs to Christian's sustained exploration of vernacular American imagery, where the visual language of newspaper comics and underground cartooning is pressed into service for something more psychologically loaded than its humble sources might suggest. At just 17.8 by 25.4 centimetres, the piece operates at a scale that feels deliberately personal, demanding close attention and rewarding it with the kind of understated emotional precision that defines Christian's practice at its most concentrated. The dedication embedded in the title adds a layer of specificity that resists full transparency, inviting speculation about the unnamed Geoffrey while maintaining the universal legibility of mourning as subject matter. Christian's command of graphite is evident in the tonal control he brings to what might superficially appear to be a simple drawing, using the medium's capacity for soft gradation to give weight and warmth to a figure that might otherwise read as purely schematic. The work is signed, and its modest dimensions belie its considerable presence as an object. For collectors drawn to works that move fluidly between folk tradition and contemporary conceptualism, this piece represents Christian at a precise and productive intersection. Currently presented through The Hole, it offers an accessible entry point into a body of work that has attracted serious critical attention for its ability to hold irony and sincerity in equal measure, without allowing either to collapse into the other.
- Medium
- Graphite on paper
- Overall
- Signed
- Yes
- Location
- The Hole, Los Angeles, CA
- Spotted At
- Gallery · The HoleView on map
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