Biography
Bryan Kring works in many forms of paper art—painting, drawing, printmaking and automata. His West Oakland Studio is home to dreams and experiments from the simple to the multi-layered and multi-dimensional. Ranging in tone from the darkly humorous to the whimsically poetic, these often take form as compressed narratives with moving parts.
He received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000. Since that time, he has continued to study, experimented, and play with intaglio and relief printing and various book making techniques. Bryan has a studio in Oakland, CA and lives in Alameda, CA with his wife and son.
Artist Statement
I am a moveable book artist working in many forms of paper art—painting, drawing, printmaking and automata. I enjoy creating interactive objects which utilize these elements to tell the various stories and musings that come to me as try to make sense of this world we live in. My work is largely intuitive and, in developing a new piece, I am often surprised and delighted to see what it shows itself to be.
Public Collections
Baylor University Libraries, Waco, TX
Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta
Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH
Cal State East Bay, University Library, Hayward, CA
Denver Public Library, Douglas Fine Print Collection, Denver CO
Indiana University, Bloomington Wells Library
Maryland Institute College of Art, Decker Library, MD
MICA, Deckers Library, MD
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Rowley, MA 01969
Rhode Island School of Design, Fleet Library, Providence, RI
Ringling School of Art + Design
San Francisco Public Library, Schmulowitz Collection of Wit and Humor
SCAD – Savannah College of Art & Design
Stanford University Libraries, Bowes Art & Architecture Library, CA
Topeka and Shawnee Public Library, KS
UC Berkeley Environmental Design Library
University of Miami, Otto G. Richter Library, FL
University of Nevada, Reno, NV
University of Rochester, NY
University of Utah Fine Arts Library, Salt Lake City, UT
University of Washington, WA
William T. Young Library University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Yale University, Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, CT
Selected Exhibitions
2023
Dreams, An International Juried Exhibition presented by 23 Sandy Gallery, Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound
A B-SSCC Curio Cabinet, (Curated by staff at the Alfred R. Goldstein Library), Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
2021
CONTENT, Artist Book Exhibition, Davis, CA
2018
MUSUBU, American Bookbinders Museum, San Francisco, CA
2017
Artist Book Cornucopia VIII, Abecedarian Gallery , Denver, CO
MUSUBU, Urawa Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Vennison Magazine Artists 2017, Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA
Illustrated Accordion, Kalamazoo Book Arts Cente, Kalamazoo, MI
2016
Moveable Book Society Biennial Book Competition Show (first runner-up for the Meggendorfer Prize for Artist Books), Boston, MA
It’s Alive, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Wanderlust, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR
Look, Book Arts!, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg, CA
2015 Codex Finds, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR
Under Pressure, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg, CA
Contemporary Book Arts, Saint Anselm College Gallery, Manchester, NH
2014
The Printed Page, Abecedarian Gallery , Denver, CO
Sky: A National Juried Exhibition, The Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Imprint: Small Plate Publications, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA
San Diego Book Arts Fifth National Juried Exhibition, UC San Diego, Geisel Library, San Diego, CA
Bookworks, San Francisco Public Library, SF, CA
2013
Do Box Me In, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR
Peaceable Kingdom: Animals, Real and Imagined, The Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
The Art of Letterpress II, The Compound Gallery, Emeryville, CA
Artist Book Cornucopia IV, Abecedarian Gallery , Denver, CO
EcoEditions, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR
2012 The Art of Letterpress, The Compound Gallery, Emeryville, CA
Artist Book Cornucopia III, Abecedarian Gallery , Denver, CO
Infinite Possibilities: Math, Science, Book Arts, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR
2011
Bookworks, San Francisco Public Library, SF, CA
2010
Bookworks, San Francisco Public Library, SF, CA
Pop up Now, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR
2008
Sit Down and Read, Another Room Book Arts, Alameda, CA