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Ryan Schneider has created four hand-painted unique monoprints made from chainsaw cut woodblocks titled Hungry Ghosts. With Hungry Ghosts, we watch Schneider continue his experimentation with sculpture as he uses his chainsaw to carve organic patterns into cedar blocks of wood, introducing to his practice a new way of applying paint to a two-dimensional surface. Loosely inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and the “Hannya Mask'' of the Japanese theater, these works on paper touch on the Buddhist concept of the “Hungry Ghost,” a soul that can never be satisfied with what they have. This idea of constant consumption yet never feeling full is a theme present in Schneider’s own life and the lives of many others.

“Hannyas are jealous demons in Japanese lore, similar to the Buddhist concept of the ‘Hungry Ghost,’ [or] a soul that cannot ever be satisfied with what they have and therefore is damned to consume and consume but never feel full. This has been a theme in my personal life as well as most people’s. Again the theme of the mask, which has become such a necessary part of every day life in the last year, is present.” — Ryan Schneider