The Inborn Absolute - (Paperback)

About the Book

"This monograph delves into the career of celebrated artist Robert Ryan. From his early roots as a musician and painter, he discovered tattooing and quickly became one of the preeminent artists in that realm. His work reveals a deep mastery of the American tattooing tradition while creating a mystical and fantastic world full of unique takes on Eastern religious iconography."--

Book Synopsis

This monograph delves into the career of celebrated artist Robert Ryan.
From his early roots as a musician and painter, he discovered tattooing
and quickly became one of the preeminent artists in that realm. His work
reveals a deep mastery of the American tattooing tradition while
creating a mystical and fantastic world full of unique takes on Eastern
religious iconography. The book covers two decades of stunning paintings
& tattoos, interviews with art and music luminaries about his work
and subject matter, detailing Ryan's personal journey and progression as
an artist.

Review Quotes

"In his pictures, written on paper and skin, Ryan
gathers the traditions drawn from a thousand sailors' visions of Eastern
temples and steeped in the practice of a thousand tattooers before him,
from all of us searchers' quest for meaning across a continent. From
beneath the surface of America, from beneath the surface of reality,
Ryan mines mystic possibility and gives these traditions new life and
new power."

-- Andrew Berardini

"The visionary art of Robert Ryan has the sincerity,
urgency, and directness of great folk art. His inherent humility allows
him to act as a conduit for images that convey the power of the unseen
world directly and clearly, without resort to pretension or artifice
that would dilute the authenticity of their spiritual source. Something
real is happening here."

-- Scott Harrison

"The Inborn Absolute is a window, an adventure, into Robert's life that would otherwise take years of knowing one to experience."

-- Freddy Corbin

About the Author

Robert Ryan lives in Asbury Park, NJ where he has been
painting and tattooing for 20 years, taught in the classic traditional
American style of bold line, heavy shading and solid field of color. His
knowledge of Eastern Spirituality, Western Mysticism, and Amazonian
Shamanism are all distilled through the filter of this powerful folk
tattoo aesthetic. Robert's work has been featured in many galleries,
schools, and publications world wide. As a musician he has released
albums with the bands Lord Sterling, Out Like Lambs, and Harmonize Most
High as well as his solo effort American Cloud Songs. Continuing to take
many pilgrimages to India, Nepal and Peru, learning from Curanderos,
Sadhus, Tantrics, and Monks, his work has tapped into a hidden knowledge
which can only be passed down through the oral traditions and ancient
practices.