RYAN HUGGINS
Name: Ryan Huggins
Age: 33
Birthplace: Port of Spain, Trinidad
Home: Dusseldorf, Germany
Discipline: Painting
PLUTO, Phase 2.: v. Dry Sauna 1/Trocken Sauna; vi. Dry Sauna 2/Trocken Sauna; vii. Private Cabin; viii. Jacuzzi, 2024 [detail: Jacuzzi], oil on canvas, in 4 parts
What are the main topics you deal with in your practice?
I am a figurative painter and I use painting as a medium to create visual narratives that render gay social spaces visible. The paintings reference real places and I try to describe their atmospheres and design settings that retain a faithfulness to the referent.
Who are the subjects of your works?
The figures in my paintings are people I don’t know personally but have observed in person or in an actual place: people who fill the rooms of euphoric bars or busy nightclubs. Depending on the mood of the painting and the specific scenario I’m recalling, these figures are often communing in one way or another. My current exhibition, PLUTO, at a. SQUIRE in London, is an ode to the Pluto sauna in Essen– its labyrinthine layout, its hedonism, and its community.
How do you define your artistic research?
I often rely on memory or photographic references to start a painting. I rarely do preliminary studies, so I usually try to spend as much time as I can at a specific location I’m interested in. Repeat visits allow me to get to know the character of the place as well as the people who frequent it. In terms of the painting process, I always try to allow the painting to grow beyond my original expectations while balancing the authenticity of the source material. I’m a slow painter and I enjoy working on paintings for several months at a time.
What images and spaces do you want to create through your work?
In my studio in Düsseldorf, I’m currently working on indoor scenes: bars, clubs, saunas and swimming pools. I’m excited by the process of designing the architectures and building the worlds within these locations, and then capturing how people socialise within them.
In your view, what does being an artist mean in today’s world?
Connecting to a wider society.
PLUTO, Phase 1.: i. Entrance/Locker Room; ii. Pluto Bar 1; iii. Pluto Bar 2; iv. Main Shower, 2024 [detail: Pluto Bar 1; Pluto Bar 2], oil on canvas, in 4 parts
PLUTO, Phase 1.: i. Entrance/Locker Room; ii. Pluto Bar 1; iii. Pluto Bar 2; iv. Main Shower, 2024, oil on canvas, in 4 parts
PLUTO, Phase 1.: i. Entrance/Locker Room; ii. Pluto Bar 1; iii. Pluto Bar 2; iv. Main Shower, 2024 [detail: Main Shower], oil on canvas, in 4 parts
PLUTO, Phase 3.: ix. Wet Sauna/Cruising 1; x. Wet Sauna/Cruising 2; xi. Wet Sauna/Cruising 3; xii. Private Cabin with Glory Hole Labyrinth, 2024, oil on canvas, in 4 parts
PLUTO, Phase 4.: xiii. Rest Lounge; xiv. Swimming Pool 1; xv. Swimming Pool 2; xvi. Smoke Lounge, 2024 [detail: Rest Lounge], oil on canvas, in 4 parts