Ryan Johnson at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

From the front, Ryan Johnson’s ‘Driver’ looks like a single, solid disk. From the side, the form becomes a steering wheel and a driver materializes, instantly morphing the sculpture from a mysterious biomorphic abstraction into an everyday scenario. Johnson’s sense of humor also comes across in his stylized ‘mother’ at rear, a stylized caryatid whose belly makes her all the more dramatic. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery through June 25th).

Ryan Johnson, Driver, plywood, oak, epoxy clay, acrylic paint, 59 x 41 x 41 inches, 2017. (Background: Mother, 95 x 53 x 10 inches, 2017).