GAY TODAY, 2020 9h x 11 1/2w in Framed: 15 1/2h x 18w in Ryan Travis Christian (b. 1983) is an American Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in California. Christian is named by DAZED as one of the “top ten artists working with monochrome.” Christian received his BFA from Northern Illinois University. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Christian’s 1990’s suburban Chicago upbringing offered up absurd experiences, which he uses as fuel for the surreal personal narratives in his pop-culture-influenced graphite drawings. Impacted by Chicago-style figuration, Christian focuses on the paradoxical relationship between childish cartoons and ominous messages, musing on the technological and material obsolescence of his inspiration. He exposes the untidy lifestyle of contemporary humanity through a vast array of topics and imagery; the economy, the environment, gender, class, hope, and doubt are contemplated with drugs, heavy petting, alcohol, violence, depression, death, and the afterlife.