Ryker Woodward

*Door stuck*, 2024. Gouache on panel, 5 x 7 in (12.7 x 17.78 cm).

Ryker Woodward (born in 1998, in San Diego, California) currently lives and works in Monterey, California. Ryker moved to Portland, Oregon in 2017, to attain an BFA in Painting and drawing from the Pacific Northwest College of Art where he graduated from in 2022.

When did you first start using video games and digital spaces as subject matter? And, what drew you to start documenting these virtual realities?

I began painting games in college as a subversive counter-strike against what was expected from my abstract paintings. Through this, I discovered ludology (the study of games) and contemporary artists who were already engaging with the genre. However, I felt that existing images didn’t fully represent my personal experiences with gaming. This led me to focus my project on multiplayer gaming from the sixth and seventh generations of gaming consoles with a focus on online connectivity. The work evolved into a memetic entity, exploring the uncharted multiplayer lobbies and deathmatch arenas.

Tell us a little bit about the process of making your work. How do you decide to paint a specific scene or screenshot and how does abstraction play into it?

My studio exists as a hybrid environment where games become generative engines for artistic production. I engage directly with the games as much as possible to extract visual data that I can turn into art. Screenshots, glitches, spaces beyond the map’s boundaries. These are not just images from my games, they are encoded compositions that aren't just cynically put together for remembrance.

The initial phase of my process involves iterative sketches. This practice stage is derived from my training for competitive games, involving analysis and self reflection in pursuit of advancing my skills. My own techniques are pulled from the ab-ex artists I looked to for so many years. Abstraction is required to transform the digital into the analog all while navigating the limitations of paint. Reference photos are essential and I craft them from the raw gameplay to fit into what I define as a good composition or subject. This isn’t a process about representation, however. It’s about transmutation. What happens when you see Master Chief through the lens of abstraction? The iconic hero clips into the unknown.

You mentioned on Instagram that Button Combos is one of your most spiritual paintings, could you explain further upon that?

No.

Your work and artist statement touch on how gaming is a collective experience but it is also something quite solitary. How do you reconcile this in your work?

Oddly enough, despite my practice being about connecting through games, my gaming these days is mostly solitary. Even when gaming alone, I'm still inhabiting virtual spaces that have been abandoned. We all trek the virtual domain alone in some way today. Of course painting can demand the same solo queue as well. The paradox however, lies in the mythos. Artist in the studio, peacefully laying down brushstrokes vs the isolated gamer who is locked in the grind, leveling a battle pass. One serene, the other insane. To me, no hierarchy exists between the two and these are parallel practices. The mastered gameplay annihilates the gallery. No canvas ever hit like a trickshot or frag montage.

What other artists or culture creators inspire you? (this is a broad question feel free to mention anyone from artists to game developers or streamers or friends, whatever you’d like)

Here’s a collection of artists I love and some additional gamers/videos that are essential:

EVH.INK
Feng Mengbo
Simone Nicola Filippo
Jesse Morsberger
Xx_hann_art_xx
Cdbunker
Emma Stern
Elliot Earls

Bonus:
Mang0
Official Evo Moment #37
The entire Unreal Tournament soundtrack
Walshy - 2nd Halo 2 Montage - Amazing
IReapZz
streets 1:12

Ryker Woodward: Nostalgic Signifiers From Digital Realms is live on Project Gallery through September 15th. You can see more of his work on his Instagram @artist_ryker.

Enter Exhibition

Katie Vota

Adrienne Greenblatt

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