On the cutting edge...

ART FROM THE HEART: A lonely childhood followed by a whole lot of love made fine artist Rob Ryan into the papercut king of the world. Now he’s bringing his magic to Yorkshire. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Scott Merrylees and Jonty Wilde

HEN students ask for advice on how to make it in the art world, Rob Ryan, tells them: “Have children young and be poor for 17 years.” He laughs, which he often does, and adds, “that’s exactly what I did.”

After studying at Trent Polytechnic and then the Royal College of Art (RCA), he combined painting and print-making with a variety of low-paid jobs, including cycle courier and decorating.

He fell in love and became a dad at 25. It wasn’t until 1999, when he perfected his papercuts and added whimsical, thoughtprovoking words to them that he started to attract attention.

The art world’s talent spotters recognised true originality and began snapping it up, which then brought it to the attention of plagiarists.

“I was copied a lot and I still am, and it makes me angry. I did take legal action but it’s such a negative, soul-destroying process and it’s so time-consuming it drains the life out of you. So I decided that the best way to tackle it was to let everyone know who I was.

“I’d been approached to licence my work, so I thought, ‘right, I’m going to brand myself. I’m going to have my name on everything. I’m going to be in John Lewis and in high street stores. That’s the only way I can win’.”

His designs are indeed on everything from prints and postcards to notebooks, radios, wallpaper, mugs, plates, a clock, jewellery and even beach shoes. He’s buried the opposition with an avalanche of products that all sport his name, which wasn’t so easy for someone who describes himself as “shy and self-conscious”.

You can see his goods in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) shop, while its galleries have a more exciting proposition for fans. A new Rob Ryan solo exhibition, Listen to the World, has just opened.

It spans the last six years of his career and includes old favourites and previously unseen lasercuts and screenprints created for his Rizzoli calendar 2016.

There’s also a limited-edition lasercut Our Sub Atomic Love Affair created exclusively for the YSP and on sale from