Phone Booth Gallery is proud to present “Papillae Paradise,” an exhibition of playful new work by Ryan Milner. The show will run from October 24 to November 20, 2009, and the opening party will be held October 24th from 7-10 pm. The all ages event will be held at Art du Vin, 2027 East 4th Street, Long Beach, CA 90814.

Milner’s second solo show with Phone Booth Gallery, “Papillae Paradise” continues his Tastebud series. The idiosyncratic characters, or “Tastebuds”, in each painting hail from inhibition-free realities in which creativity reigns. Each of Milner’s 3”x 5” wood panels accommodates one free-standing face in which the contours and wrinkles of human expression have been comically exaggerated. The Tastebuds toy with cultural tropes and caricature iconic emotions while distilling life to instinct.

Milner uses a whimsical, understated palette, a paradoxical choice that gives his visceral subject matter all the more punch. He works expressively, but minimally, letting his marks assert their individuality while keeping each composition directed. In works like “Hangover,” the stereotypical symbols of vice surround a surly face, condensing renegade behavior into a single demonstrative personality. In “X-Ray,” the sterility of a clinical image is overrun by the quirks of its subject, and “Paradise” reveals the cynical underside of bliss. What threads Milner’s work together is the suggestion that persona, not circumstance, gives life its flavor.

A witty range of tongue-in-cheek social commentary characterizes “Papillae Paradise.” Intense human experiences are imbued with levity and eccentricity. “Papillae Paradise’s” contagious sense of humor offers a welcome reprieve from day-to-day routine, presenting creativity as solemnity’s antidote.