Ryan Foti

About the Artist

Ryan Foti lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008, and completed his Master of Arts in Teaching at MICA in 2009. Currently Ryan teaches digital and traditional art making at Mount Saint Joseph High School, a Xaverian Sponsored School located in Baltimore City, Maryland.  Ryan has also worked with MICA's Young People's Studios as a faculty member for the past eleven years and more recently as Program (Area) Coordinator.

Artist's Statement

My work examines the tenuous spectrum that exists within both interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships. There is no fixed state of being, only a constant transition from one identity, individual, or idea to another. We are always developing, changing, and in a state of becoming. My work is an attempt to exist within and understand this uncomfortable as well as transformative domain. My process is a reflection of this idea as I see these relationships in my life. The image starts as one set identity; an image from a general stock source, symbolizing for me falsehood. The image then is printed, transferred, scanned, designed, printed again, painted on, scanned again and on an on until that initial image has dissolved into something new; something not quite formed but with evidence of authenticity and inevitably evolution. Like me, the piece is always on a continuum, transitioning from one form to a new and hopefully, but not always necessarily, better version of it’s former self.