Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Doyle.
Hi Ryan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Biography
Ryan C. Doyle’s creative output can be described as huge, massive, loud, dangerous, and incredibly thought provoking by using pulse jets, propellers, shock wave cannons, rocketry surplus parts, high G force centrifuges, military technology and even reverse engineered patents to engage his audience and push the limits of personal “safety.” He first attended the Burning Man Festival as a young person in 2000 to work for the Department of Public Works and continued to do so for the next ten odd years creating dozens of art cars, running the DPW Metal Shop, and assisting artists and art groups such as Lisa Nigro, Christian Ristow, Kal Spelletich, Dan DasMann, David Best, Madagascar Institute, Cyclecide Bike Rodeo, Flaming Lotus Girls, Seemen and so many more. He honed the maker skills he had already become competent in while building parade floats and majoring in 3d design and Kinetic Sculpture at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and began an apprenticeship with movie prop maker and Burning Man artist icon Mr. Christian Ristow.
Doyle worked side by side with Ristow and his crew RoboChrist learning robotics, electronics design, hydraulics, heavy equipment operation, pyrotechnics, radio controls, mechanics, playatechnics and how to keep things running smooth in the entirely entropic environment of Black Rock City. This survival research led him to building on and off playa traveling the globe while manifesting the interactive kinetic sculptures he dreamed up; eventually fulfilling his childhood dream of joining the IATSE 44 to create props and special effects for big budget Hollywood blockbusters. He is most recognized for his larger than life Mutant Vehicle creations like Brandeaux Bot, The Robot Heart, GonKirin, #CarCroach, and the Skull Car. He also built some of the first Art Cars for DPW and for a few other staff members including Marian Goodell and founder Larry Harvey.
If art’s true nature is to change the emotions of the viewer, he offers an exciting relationship for the audience to be terrified, exhausted and hopefully empowered; after courageously volunteering to “ride” his carnivalesque works. Doyle has been profiled in numerous publications including the LA Weekly, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Popular Mechanics, MAKE, Wired, Vice, The Creators Project, Detroit Metro Times, Detroit Free Press, the Village Voice and Free Amsterdam. Doyle has appeared on popular TV shows such as Junk Yard Wars, Monster Garage, Junkies, was a member of the creation team/cast for Rock’n Roll Acid Test, Hillbilly blood, Kong Skull Island, Bright, Pacific Rim Uprising, and Project Power. Doyle has exhibited his artworks extensively across America, in Australia, Europe and Asia while showing at numerous galleries and multiple festivals such as: The Venice Biennale, Art Basel Miami, The Watermill Center, Superchief Gallery, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, AND festival, The Influencers, Big dayOut, Device Art, RoboDock, Performa, Burning Man, Glastonbury and Coachella.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been the most remarkable and enlightening road I have ever traveled. I have struggled to find myself and to learn more effectively communicate the hurdles I come across as I go. I have lost some close friends and family and have made some sacrifices and mistakes that I try my best not to repeat.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make large sculpture and kinetic art out of found objects I find around Detroit that I call Detroitus. I am most proud of the work we do at Lincoln Street Art Park, some volunteer coaching and assisting at my children’s schools, and the community of Detroiters that support us and our beautiful city.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I would tell them to work hard and never give up their dream. I wish I could have seen how much life would get better and had more confidence to not be so self critical.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Doylehuge
