South African-born Ryan Hewett grew up loving to draw. In his early 20s, his interest in art moved to painting. He uses many geometric shapes in his painting, which he states is a new development in his art. “I used to work very directly on the canvas, really thick impasto works. I’ve been scaling my paintings back in the last two years to clean lines and selected sections of texture.”
Working typically with oil on canvas or Belgian linen, along with a mirror behind him for perspective, he creates art that explores contemporary portraiture and how it is pushed towards abstraction in a new way. Ryan uses rural South Africa as his inspiration. “It’s the perfect backdrop to work in,” he says. He admires artists like Matiss, Picasso, Bacon, Egon, and Doig. “I have an obsession with their practice, how they achieve what they do.”
For more of Ryan’s art, go to http://ryanhewett.com/.
