This early acrylic on canvas by Ryan McGinness entitled “Double Happiness” was executed in 1999 and presents the bold graphics the artist has become known for. Creating an optical illusion through a double vision effect, McGinness takes an innocent looking girl and skews her into a morphed figuration that plays with the viewer’s perceptions.

Ryan McGinness (b. 1972) has gained international fame as a contemporary painter and graphic designer, known for combining and remixing graphic vocabularies from a range of sources. His work makes strong social commentary on iconography, language, and historical and contemporary symbolism. McGinness’ graphic signs and personal iconography are replicated, recontextualized, and materialized infinitely across a range of media—from paintings, prints, and installations, to skateboards, T-shirts, and videos. In 1999, he received critical acclaim for his first book, 'Flatnessisgod'. McGinnes has exhibited at numerous venues internationally including Deitch Projects (New York, NY), Galerie Forsblom (Helsinki, Finland), Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH), and the Royal Academy of Arts (London, UK), among others.

Select Public Collections:
Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY)
Museum of Contemporary Art (San Diego, CA)
Virginia Museum of Fine Art (Richmond, VA)
Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan)