Ryan Baysa-Artist Website

Jazz Music + Expressionism-Through the Eyes of an Artist/Musician by Brian Kim

It was a music appreciation class taught by a generic, soccer-mom type at California State Fullerton in 2001 in which Ryan and I were enrolled and where his obvious artistic ability was displayed in a humorous way. A guest speaker was leading the class drearily one day as I noticed Ryan scribbling something on a piece of paper. I didn't think much of it as class ended. Next class session was started with an enthusiastic professor holding up a dead- on drawing of the previous guest speaker with portrait-like resemblance. The entire class erupted in laughter, Oohs, and Aahs, shocked at how Ryan was able to capture the subject so perfectly in such a short class period. The professor was so amazed at the accuracy of the sketch, she mentioned not even caring that the student was not paying attention to the speaker. The man I only saw as a boring guest speaker was the subject in Ryan's drawing, which made me realize that Ryan sees the world through the eyes of an artist.

"I have had this love to create imagery through drawing and poetry since I was able to pick up a crayon."

Growing up with parents who were artists themselves, he was constantly surrounded by images and books of artists, especially Picasso, telling their stories amongst images of their works. This shaped his artistic vision, Ryan says, "taking life which would be mundane to civilians and fusing my imagination with objects and people to inevitably become what I wanted them to be. I was starting to take creative control and at the same time was allowing for inspiration to take me away." As early as 5 years old he had an understanding for complex concepts as he personified animals with a drawing and poem entitled,"The Lonely Wolf" conveying how a wolf experiences lonliness and his need to leave his pack to pursue his personal growth.

With his discovery of Jazz Music, he became a part of the music when he formed a band, The Blue Key Coretet. Subsequently, Jazz took on a personal place in his life as the introspective aspect of the music delved deeper and deeper. In his own words,"Its dark bluesy songs and raw emotional swing grabbed my soul. My artwork today is just a product of the accumulated years of this. If you look closely you will even find collaged text integrated into it alongside the paint to further communicate the importance of these figures and music's importance in my life."

"Influenced by the Expressionistic works of artists such as Rauschenberg, Basquiat, Picasso, and Marcus Jansen, and even more by the Jazz/Funk music cultures which I belong to, I felt the need to uphold and express this body of work with an approach that was free flowing, poetic and colorful as in the tonal qualities I associate each subject with when I hear their sound. I built layers of texture to show viewers that these musicians are like royalty in some regards so in a way I have re-dressed them in hopes to pay homage to them and continue to recognize them for their inspirational contributions. By utilizing recycled fabrics, paper and found objects I sought to acknowledge how forms of music such as Hip-Hop have created new sounds from sampling others works to reshape and revitalize. My subjects are living in others works and I just wanted the materials to reflect this."