With the Improbable Figures series, I wanted to both embrace dualities and find a way to reconcile them. Black and white, love and hate, truth and falsehood—the extremes of existence require this skill.

To me, the human form is a perfect landscape for this task; our dichotomies are sown into the soil. I limited myself to black and white for its visual austerity, and the chiaroscuro, while creating a similar contrast, also softens with gray mid-tones.

The figures themselves are meant to feel both familiar and mysterious, existing somewhere between probability and improbability. You recognize body parts but are disoriented by a new anatomy. The organic angle of a shoulder and unnatural curves on a forearm can only be wings, but they’re neither human nor animal. Featureless bodies float outside of time and feel impersonal yet intimate, while gesturing hands do the least amount of talking.

Minimalism is the main driver towards balance, though. Most of the compositions are limited to three elements, which maintains visual intensity without overwhelming the viewer. There are more gray areas than anything, but the goal is reconciliation, not neutrality. When we’re willing to navigate these spaces, polarity doesn’t have to mean mutually exclusivity.

Lisa A. Ryan is a paper collage artist and illustrator who has created for YouTube, Esquire, Paste Quarterly and The Mockingbird magazine. Her Improbable Figures series re-imagines the human form into a landscape of angles and curves, light and shadow—both intimate and disorienting. Visit her website at lisaaryan.com

New City Arts Welcome Gallery will host the Improbable Figures exhibit from Oct. 6-31 with an opening reception from 5-7:30pm on First Friday, Oct. 6. Meet the artist on 10/20 at the gallery’s Artist Lunch from 12-1pm. Event sponsors include Northwestern Mutual, ting and Keevil & Keevil Grocery.

Founded 8 years ago, New City Arts is a Charlottesville area non-profit whose mission is to support artists and facilitate cultural participation locally. Through a portfolio of creative programs like Charlottesville SOUP, Housing2Home, and the New City Artist-in-Residence program, they support artists because they believe in the life-giving and community-building work of the arts. Two years ago, New City Arts opened Welcome Gallery, a storefront art space on the downtown mall in order to provide artists with a space to exhibit; facilitate community with a place to gather; and support other downtown galleries by creating an additional First Friday Art Walk venue. Since opening, New City Arts has welcomed almost 10,000 visitors through its door, and they are excited to launch their third annual season of monthly exhibits by Charlottesville area artists.