20/08/2012 – Ultra Vires
Joe Ryan employs the Latin term ‘Ultra Vires’ as meaning ‘beyond the powers’ of an authority as the premise for his etchings. Drawing on the draughtmanship of 18th Century master Piranesi and others, he probes the structure of power through architectural design. The printmaker likewise adapts Erving Goffman’s concept of the ‘Total Institution’, where entire groups under bureaucratic control are stripped of their identity.
Format: series of 12 etchings
Size:92cms x 73cms
Fees required: transport costs