CHRIST CONSOLES
Ryan S. Brown is a leading representational artist living and working in Springville, Utah. Ryan trained in the classical traditions of drawing and painting in Florence, Italy at the Florence Academy of Art where he graduated in 2008 winning the prestigious Painting of the Year award. Ryan has established himself as one of the leading masters of portrait and figure work, as well as landscape painting. Ryan is the Founder and Director of the Center for Academic Study & Naturalist Painting (CAS), which is also located in Springville, Utah at 43 East and 200 South. The CAS is a traditional art academy that is widely considered one of the top 5 professional art schools in the world.
Recently Ryan completed a monumental religious painting entitled “Christ Consoling the Widow”. This piece is five feet tall by five feet in length that took the artist a total of 8 months to complete. In the painting, a recently widowed woman sits with her three children in a roman garden. The painting captures the moment that Christ approaches the woman in a gesture of consolation transforming her mood from one of sorrow and desperation, to a feeling of faith inspired hope. The children, yet unaware of Christ’s presence, remain consumed by their grief. There is a rare power in the expression of the hope captured in the woman’s expression. The interaction between Christ and the woman inspires a similar feeling of hope in the viewer, and allows the viewer to experience a more tangible sense of Christ. The mastery of this work is likely to set a new standard for LDS art. The portrait of Christ allows the viewer to experience the character or Christ in a way that is far more personal than they are likely to have experienced before. This work has been submitted to the Temple Art Committee and may soon hang in either the Payson or Provo City Center Temple.