This work is part of a series that Ryan painted while reflecting on his family’s wartime experiences. On May 28, 1945, at the height of WWII, his grandfather was kamikazed on the USS Drexler in Okinawa. Following the shipwreck he spent several days in the ocean before being rescued. In the painting Ryan confronts the harrowing tale through his practiced visual lens. Upon first glance the work appears playful and almost fun, with the simplified cartoon-esque airplanes whizzing by. However the moodier color palette, suggests something more sinister. The spatial platform also has a certain duality, appearing at once both very flat and with having depth.
