Ryan McLaughlin: Dinkel, 2013, oil on linen on MDF, framed, 14 by 10 inches.
Ryan McLaughlin calls his paintings “almost-abstractions,” and indeed the imagery in his small works dances on the border between abstraction and figuration. The paintings sport an endearingly dusty, chalky palette; the canvases seem at moments to be stained from the other side. Sometimes the forms are so indistinct that they seem to chide you for even thinking of them as such.