"Mind Matter" Painting by Ryan Manahan (Summer Solo Show)

Come check out our summer solo show "Mind Matter" by Ryan Manahan at the B1 Gallery! 

The show will be up from June 26-Aug 30, 2026. And can be viewed daily during regular gallery hours. 9 AM - 4 PM. (With a few exception for private rentals. When possible we will share the adjusted hours on our instagram).

The entrance for the B1 Gallery is located at 2109 Alberta St.

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Ryan Manahan is an multimedia abstract painter based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and a Diploma of Fine Arts from Sheridan College. Manahan’s work explores the visualization of internal thought and dreamscapes as they relate to everyday experiences. He has exhibited at the University of Toronto Arts Centre, the Campbell House Museum, the Women’s Art Association of Canada, the Gallery George, Astro Club, and the offices of Cardinal Investments Firm.

Mind Matter brings together a collection of multimedia paintings created over the past two years. A sister exhibition to “no one's holding a gun to your head”, this exhibition focuses on the ways thoughts, dreams, and everyday experiences linger in the mind and return in unexpected ways. Manahan uses expressive gestures, abstract drawing, layering, and scale to explore the feeling of becoming caught in cycles of thought. Familiar forms emerge, disappear, and reappear throughout the work, reflecting the shifting nature of thought and perception. He brings the paintings into a dreamlike space where cycles of thought and anxieties lose their usual certainty and become open to new interpretations. Viewers are invited to encounter the paintings playfully and piece them together in their own way.

Artist Statement:

I'm interested in the way the mind fixates on certain memories, dreams, and everyday experiences. These fragments often resurface unexpectedly and take on new meanings over time. My paintings explore this process through abstraction, layering, and repetition. Influenced by printmaking and sculpture, I treat each mark as a lasting part of the painting. Rather than hiding previous decisions, I build on them, allowing traces of earlier layers to remain visible. The surface becomes a record of revision, where forms are continually emerging, disappearing, and transforming. Using charcoal, latex, and acrylic paint, I create works that balance control with experimentation. Familiar symbols and shapes drawn from daily life move in and out of focus, reflecting the shifting nature of memory, perception, and thought.