Nostalgic paintings by Mike Ryczek inspired by memories, photos and life in Brooklyn

"My tendency has always been to want to dismantle things in order to make sense of the world around me, and I think that is essentially what art is: dismantling and rearranging with the hopes of gaining insight into the raw materials you began with," Mike explains.

"I love realist art that manages to please the senses, capture the tangible world and illuminate all it’s wonderful subtleties. I also appreciate art that forgoes direct representation and instead uses abstract shape and colour to communicate a strong concept. This being said, my paintings try to synthesise all of these elements and ideally speak to both my love of beauty and intelligence."

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Mike attended Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA in 2002 and graduated in 2006 with a BFA in Illustration, a concentration that he later decided he didn’t want to pursue. He now lives and works as a painter and designer in West Newton, Massachusetts.

Watch the video below by Nick Noyes to discover more about his process. Or visit mryczek.com.

Via Creative Boom submission | All images courtesy of the artist