Antonio Colombo is proud to present, at the gallery, the second solo show by Ryan Heshka, the Canadian Pop Surrealist artist. The exhibition Teenage Machine Age picks up where his last show at the gallery (Ours) left off.

Heshka continues his reworking of the golden age of Science Fiction, imagining a fantastic universe populated by pin-up girls, futuristic computers, tin robots and humanoid monsters, exploring surreal scenes and blurred memories, mixing everything with vague hints at universal themes.

The use and abuse of technology, the mad race of mankind to escape boredom, the intertwining of the artificial world created by man with the natural environment, the commercial spirit gone haywire… All these themes find a place in paintings on panels with bright primary colors, and in refined drawings on paper, in small and large sizes.

Heshka’s style reflects the naive visual language of comics, the covers of scandal magazines, advertising flyers, B movies, Steampunk retro atmospheres, old posters… The consumer culture of the past winds up mirroring the equally consumption-driven attitudes of the present. The use of clippings from old magazines, with a very glossy finish for the works on panels, of yellowed paper for the works on paper and of vintage frames, accentuate the time-worn charm of these works.

The final impression is that of a technologically advanced world that lives in a reckless adolescent dream, a glossy world of reassuring colors and seductive textures.

Ryan Heshka was born in 1970 in Manitoba, Canda. He lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

He has a bachelor degree in interior design and worked in that field for many years, in addition to animation, before making art and illustration his career. Influenced by a lifelong love of comic books (favorite artists include Jack Kirby, Bill Everett and Basil Wolverton), pulp magazine art (Frank R. Paul cover art), old monster and B-movies (Ray Harryhausen movies, "King Kong", "Dracula", etc.), children's books (Dr. Seuss), and vintage advertising and graphics, these sources have made their way into his art. Drawing from a very early age, Heshka also used model building (miniature cities built from cardboard) and super-8 movie making to create his own worlds. Each painting is a part of this world of re-imagined visuals and re- created dreams.

Heshka has appeared in all the major illustration annuals, including American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, 3 x 3, and Applied Arts. Clients include Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Playboy, Esquire, Forbes, Topps, and DreamWorks SKG. He has appeared in galleries across North America (including Roq La Rue, Seattle, WA; Richard Heller, LA; Copro Nason, LA; Orbit Gallery, New Jersey; Rotofugi, Chicago))and in Europe (Feinkunst Kruger, Germany; Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Italy), and has been published several times in BLAB! and books about the new underground art movement, including THE UPSET. His second children's book is set for release in Winter 2012, and his first book was optioned by DreamWorks SKG. "Ours" at the Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea will be his first international solo show.

Antonio Colombo Gallery
Via Solferino, 44
Milan 20121 Italy
Tel. +39 0229060171
info@colomboarte.com
www.colomboarte.com

Opening hours
From Tuesday to Friday
From 10.00am - 1.00pm and 3.00pm until 7.00pm
Saturday 3.00pm - 7.00pm