Feeling Comfortable Being Uncomfortable with Rial Rye

Adalei Stevens

As life begins to feel as close to life before a pandemic can feel, I sometimes feel nostalgia for what felt like a renaissance. While there was collective uncertainty and social unrest, there was more space to create than before. During that time, I learned how to crossstitch and found comfort in botching dye jobs on myself and those around me.

A 2022 study in France found people were more creative during the lockdown than before. The study also found that more creative people were more adaptable at overcoming obstacles. Art is a valuable tool that brings people together and can help both artist and audience better understand their own feelings.

That’s how queer mixed-media visual artist and sculptor Rial Rye feels about his art. Growing up queer and multiracial meant Rye often felt out of place and unrepresented. Rye hopes his work can be relatable and said he finds the mourning faces oddly comforting.

“I never really felt represented, I never really felt like I belonged in a certain group of people, or places,” he said. “So, I think that there is a commentary on [colonization] there because I am the result of colonialization … It’s something that I have to grapple with myself, and I hope that I can help other people grapple with as well.”

Inspiration strikes often since moving to Atlanta, Rye said. Whether he’s visiting galleries like Whitespace or KAI LIN ART, or walking down the street, the city’s art scene shows itself to be as ubiquitous as it is full of talent.

“I’m finding some of the most amazing stories and creative spirits on the same street as me,” he said.

Rye is a transplant, having bought a home and moved here from Las Vegas with his husband two years ago. Without so much as a Zoom tour of the place, Rye fell in love with Atlanta from afar.

“Atlanta is super artistic,” he said. “It’s very creative and has a big city vibe, but with small town heart. It’s kind of a real community of people … I have no plans on leaving. I’ve always kind of been moved around, like my whole life, so being able to put down roots is really important to me.”

Blending elements of Cubism, Neoexpressionism, and more recently, Naïve art, Rye often depicts grief and trauma and is “inspired by his experiences as someone whose very identity transgresses the binaristic logics of race and gender upon which our society is built,” according to his website.

“I love that my art is for other people,” Rye said. “I love that I make it in my mind for other queer people. Other people of color, other people who are just feel different or feel the loss.”

One of Rye’s greatest inspirations is Wifredo Lam, a Black Cubist artist, who worked alongside postwar, European avant-garde artists, including Pablo Picasso and André Breton. Much of his work depicts the complex history of his home country, Cuba.

Rye started sculpting less than a year ago, and Home Depot quickly became a necessary but daunting space for him to enter.

“I don’t see very many people like me doing that, and I actually have always wanted to work with power tools,” he said. “In high school, I took wood shop, and I felt so uncomfortable there. I think I dropped it after a week … As I became more comfortable as just a human on this planet, I wanted to go back to that.”

Quickly, though, he said, “you start to learn the language, and you start to learn the culture and the space. Once you start doing that, you realize that there’s no magic, there’s nothing barring you … I hope that, in the future, people don’t feel uncomfortable in any space.”

Community is invaluable, but Rye said it’s up to the individual to show up authentically and embrace the discomfort of unfamiliarity.

“I think that there’s so many stereotypes in my life that I’ve come to find out are just not real. None of that stuff is real,” he said. “Everyone is unique, and … it takes each one of us to feel uncomfortable but to embrace our confidence.”

As important as community is, it cannot exist without accessibility.

“I always loved totem poles,” Ryan said. “I love how accessible they are. It’s not art that’s tucked away behind the museum wall. It’s for the community … I think that my inspiration, especially now, is being in a community, and it’s probably the first time I’m really inspired by the local artists around me.”

You can keep up with Rial Rye through his website rialrye.weebly.com and on Instagram @rial_rye.