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‘FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION’ TO OPEN JAN. 24 AT MARY RYAN GALLERY

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NEW YORK CITY — “Freedom of Expression: The Art of Peter Sis” will be on view January 24–March 8 at Mary Ryan Gallery in the artist’s first gallery exhibition in New York.

The exhibition spans more than 30 years of the artist’s career and includes drawings from Sis’s most recent book, The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007).

The title of this exhibition is a truism for Sis, who not only grew up drawing in secret and reading banned books, but who as a young adult eventually used his art and abilities to flee Communist Czechoslovakia. In celebration of freedom and of the individual that distinguishes himself from the masses, his books often focus on explorers, adventurers and radical thinkers.

The Wall tells the story of Sis’s struggle to preserve artistic freedom growing up in Communist Prague, and his eventual liberation through art.

The exhibition will feature a selection of animated films, storyboards and preparatory drawings, as well as original artwork from Sis’s acclaimed books Madlenka’s Dog, Tree of Life: Charles Darwin, Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus and Tibet Through the Red Box.

This exhibition provides an experience for viewers to absorb Sis’s work without any accompanying narrative. His meticulous drawings blend the real and imaginary, simultaneously exploring the micro and macro through maps and mazes, and are often framed by his distinct playful borders.

The gallery is at 527 West 26th Street. For information, www.maryryangallery.com or 212-397-0669.