Opening Next Week: Ryan Hewett at UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles

Standing for human advancement, Ryan Hewett’s first solo exhibition with UTA Artist Space, is entitled H+. Exploring the ideas and philosophies of trans-humanism, H+ seeks to represent visually how today’s technologies might lead to radical improvements in human health and extended lifespans.

In line with these concepts, Hewett’s exhibition presents a series of hybridised portraits, figurative works and landscapes that hover on the boundary between the human and what the artist defines as the humanoid. By combining natural forms with geometric contours and straight lines, Hewett symbolises a trans-humanist outlook, merging the environment we live in and a possible futuristic society.

Born in 1979 and described by critic and curator Edward Lucie-Smith as ‘one of South Africa’s most distinguished painters today’, Ryan Hewett is renowned for his brooding and evocative paintings. Using a variety of oil painting techniques, from brushes to knives, Hewett’s extensive knowledge draws on renowned movements within art history. His structured forms and psychedelic colours allude to Cubist portraits and Surrealist landscapes, while his body-length portraits recall Renaissance medical diagrams of the human anatomy.

Hewett has exhibited extensively in group exhibition and solo exhibitions in major cities around the world. His most recent institutional exhibition took place at The Goss Michael Foundation in Dallas in 2018. His work can be found in various international private and public collections, including the Goss Michael Foundation, Fine Art Centre, Taiwan, The Recharge Foundation, Emergentes Art Foundation and the Dean Collection, to name a few.

UTA Artist Space is an exhibition venue designed by Ai Weiwei in the heart of Beverly Hills that is committed to showcasing art by globally recognized talent. Since its establishment in 2016, UTA Artist Space has presented notable exhibitions with interdisciplinary artists and creatives, including Derrick Adams, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Essence Harden, Larry Clark, Amanda Hunt, The Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, The Haas Brothers, and Ai Weiwei, among others.