# Ryan Mcnamara

ryan mcnamara (born 1979) is an American artist known for fusing dance, theater, and history into situation-specific, collaborative performances. == Early life and education == McNamara was born and raised in Arizona.He studied photography at Arizona State University and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts at Hunter College in New York City. == Work == McNamara typically works in with sculpture, video and performance and describes his work as "under-your-bed" art and, more recently, image-heavy collaborative performances nicknamed "readymade choreography." Writer and critic Alex Fialho notes that the artist often uses "the stage as a medium in itself."He has held performances and exhibitions at Art Basel, The High Line, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Whitney Museum, MoMA P.S.1, and The Kitchen amongst other places.McNamara participated in the 2nd Athens Biennale in 2009 with a video work titled, "I Thought It Was You." The work featured two screens portraying the artist enacting a spontaneous dance alongside a Herbie Hancock recording.In 2010, the artist performed one of his most ambitious projects to date: “Make Ryan a Dancer.” Over the length of five months and under public scrutiny and surveillance, the artist took to the task of learning ballet, contact improvisation, and exotic dancing, amongst other dance styles, at MoMA PS1.McNamara's solo show at Elizabeth Dee gallery in 2012, "Still," transformed the gallery space into a chaotic trompe l'oeil photography studio.