Ryan Fugate has studied art and painting at the Glassel School of art under esteemed artists Patrick Palmer, Jackie Tileston, and Terrell James. He has also trained under renowned master painter and author Phillip Rubinov Jacobson in Vienna Austria, as well as worked and trained with Houston artist John palmer at the Skopolos Foundation for the arts in Skopolos Greece. He has traveled extensively through Austria, Turkey, Greece, Egypt , and Kenya, and these experiences have served as seeds of inspiration for many of his pieces. In 2010 Ryan was honored to be one of the few artists chosen to be part of the John Palmer Escapist Mentorship program. Ryan's work has been collected internationally and from coast to coast, not only privately, but has been collected and/or commissioned by corporations and businesses such as Chevron, The Houstonian, Body Benefits, Precision Drilling, Dianna restaurant at the Houston Hobby Center for the performing arts, Herman and Methodist Hospital, and Crown Castle to name a few. His work has been shown at exhibitions and private shows throughout Houston and in 2011 was featured at Art Chicago among some of the worlds top artists and gallery”’s. In 2012 he was honored to be represented and shown at the LA Modern and Contemporary Art Show.
Since then Ryan Fugate has successfully built a name for himself primarily as a self supporting artist, bypassing the traditional gallery establishment, through a loyal fan and collector base, prominent houston Designers, word of mouth, as well as representation by Mecox, Skyline Art Services. And American Art Services. Grateful for his maintained success and the support he has received through his work, he has given back through philanthropic endeavors, creating work to raise funds for charities such as Lady bird Johnson Wildlife Center, Tree of Hope Foundation, Art on the Avenue, Sky High for kids, St Judes Hospital, Glassel school of Art scholarship fund, The center for Success and Independence, The Diana foundation, and H.A.T.C.H.,
Ryan Fugate works out of his studio at Winter Street Studios and transforms the space into a gallery, hosting several open studio events for the public several times a year. If you are interested in collecting an original Ryan Fugate Fine Art piece of work, you may always contact him for a personal viewing appointment.
About the Work of Ryan Fugate
Fugate's abstraction can be defined as a mode of painting music and moods extending beyond the depiction of recognizable objects, having gradually stripped it of mimetic vestiges and where the 'realm of feeling' becomes paramount. In Ryan Fugate's paintings, the distribution of color, sometimes atmospheric and subtle, sometimes with fission and fusion of form contained within the composition, gives rise to a language serving to communicate the artist's contemplation of human destiny and his pondering on the meaning of life. Ryan's efforts have expanded the scope of abstract language, lending a new dialogue to the abstract image. Abstract painting is visual music. Its rhythms demand richness but also terseness and purity. Ryan Fugate's abstract works combine the denseness of oils with the lightness of water.
To compare Fugate to a contemporary artist, it would have to be one of the most complex artists to emerge, the German painter Gerhard Richter, who for thirty years has alternated between photo-based representation and abstraction By working in these traditionally contradictory modes, Fugate, like Richter, has also blurred the territorial boundaries between abstraction and representation and has made ambiguity a positive and central element of his art. We can call this ambiguity or we can call this freedom; freedom from getting stuck or stifled in a singular style. For as long as art has a place in society where it can take us from the everyday and propel us into a state of contemplation and reflection, the hypnotic work of Ryan Fugate will continue to resonate as a compelling source of inspiration, no matter what form or style of expression he turns his spirit toward.
Each abstract artist has his own artistic "genetic code" and history, and these determine his artistic language to an extent. Organically combining his emotions and images with the language of abstract art, Fugate's paintings make extensive use of his media and combine a dignified, confident manner with powerful, unrestrained momentum. In his works we observe an individual's quest for insight into the essence of the chaotic world. This quest has given the colors and forms in his paintings a strong power of communication. The language is honest, uninhibited and profound. Simplification is the highway to a holier intellectual realm, and by increasing the substance of his paintings while eliminating extraneous noise; Ryan has achieved new aesthetic heights.”-Philip Rubinov Jacobson, Artist, Author and Educator
