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

In his latest work, Mike Ryczek sentimentally paints artworks that draw on nostalgia and the way we store and distort memory. His gentle, often abstract paintings use a muted palette and various shapes to deliver an interpretation of how he views the world.

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Painted portrait of a person with dark hair and closed eyes, with small blue tears on their cheeks, resting on a patterned fabric with floral and geometric designs

"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.

A storefront window bathed in blue light, displaying two dark rectangular panels with a small pink-framed light fixture in the centre
Abstract painting with muted blue and green tones depicting fragmented leaf-like shapes floating against a dark background
Abstract painting by Mike Ryczek featuring layered geometric shapes in turquoise, blue and green with dark silhouettes and a muted palette
Abstract painting by Mike Ryczek with layered horizontal strokes in muted blues, greens and earth tones, evoking a landscape with water and distant structures
Abstract blue-toned painting by Mike Ryczek featuring geometric stepped forms and cylindrical shapes arranged on a dark reflective surface
Abstract painting in shades of blue depicting silhouetted figures and buildings beneath a glowing moon, with a bright hexagonal shape in the foreground
Bright light streams through a rectangular window in a dark interior space, creating a hazy, ethereal quality reminiscent of memory and nostalgia

Via Creative Boom submission | All images courtesy of the artist

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