PRIME DAY

From the Studio:

Serio Press is delighted to be working with Ryan Travis Christian once again. In 2019 we first produced two editions for the artist, and today we have completed an additional four serigraphs. Numerous layers of translucent black ink reimagine Ryan's deft graphite touch in a series of limited edition prints, the first of which is available today.

From the Artist:

Ryan Travis Christian reimagines Charlie Chaplin's speech from "The Great Dictator" with a contemporary twist

"I don’t want to be a Prime subscriber. I don’t want to click or add to cart for anyone. I should like to shop locally—if possible—hardware store, bookstore, grocer, boutique. We all want to support one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s craftsmanship—not by each other’s impulse buys.

We don’t want to rate and review one another out of business. In this world, there is room for every merchant. And the local high street is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of shopping can be deliberate and beautiful, but we have lost our way.

Convenience has poisoned our souls, has barricaded the world with cardboard boxes, has goose-stepped us into subscription fees and endless browsing. We have developed same-day speed, but we have shut ourselves indoors. Warehouses that give abundance have left us in want. Our search history has made us cynical. Our targeted ads, hard and inescapable. We scroll too much and live too little. More than fulfillment centers, we need actual fulfillment. More than free delivery, we need connection and community. Without these qualities, retail has become sterile and all main streets will be lost.

The internet and the smartphone could have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for global collaboration—for the unity of us all. Even now my words are reaching many throughout the web—countless despairing browsers, buyers, and little children with iPads—all victims of an algorithm that makes sad people  box and ship cheap plastic across vast oceans.

To those who can read this, I say—do not despair. The monopoly that is now upon us is but the passing of greed—the bitterness of tycoons who fear the way of local commerce. The reign of the mega-corporation will pass, and the purchasing power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as we have wallets, the family shop will never perish!

Don’t give yourselves to the algorithm! Those who track you—cookie you—who regiment your carts—tell you what to buy, what to watch, and what to wear! Who retarget you—upsell you—treat you like data points, use you as revenue streams! Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural metrics—machine metrics with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not metrics! You are not demographics! You are human! You don’t need it in two days! Only the impatient need it in two days—the impatient and the impulsive!

Click for liberty! In the Terms of Service it should be written: "the power of the market is within the consumer"—not one app nor a group of shareholders, but in all of us! In you! You, the people, have the purchasing power—the power to fund neighbors. The power to create local happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this economy free and vibrant.

Then—in the name of mindful consumerism—let us use that power! Let us all log off! Let us shop for a new world—a decent world that will give artisans a chance to work—that will give small businesses a future and old storefronts security. By the promise of free shipping, the mega-retailers have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise—they just bury it in the annual fee! Monopolies free themselves, but they enslave the delivery drivers!

Now let us fight to fulfill the promise of true commerce! Let us fight to free the market—to do away with the Buy It Now button—to do away with greed, with endless packaging and instant gratification. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where patience and local progress will lead to all's betterment."

Artist Bio:

Ryan Travis Christian riffs on vintage animation and the aesthetics of the Chicago Imagists in his darkly funny paintings and graphite drawings, all of which he renders in gray scale. The artist’s upbringing in suburban Chicago often serves as inspiration: Christian recasts domestic banalities as sites of surrealism, satire, and danger.

Ryan Travis Christian IG