LICH Exhibition Catalog by Ryan Bock

LICH Exhibition Catalog by Ryan Bock

Introduction by Agnes Berecz

Forward by Dr Andreas Aye

Main Text by Isabella Seglovich

Al "Babyman" Porto, Cover Design

Christo Cunha, Interior Design

Andy Zalkin, Photography

Caroline Bodain, Editor

Ben Fink, Editor

Jim Mize, Editor

Ki Smith Gallery

October 18 to November 23, 2025

Curated by Celine Cunha

History is the momentum pushing the world in the present toward the future. Our lives are the root of mythology and fable, filled with echos from those past. Passed down from generation to generation- stories shape us as individuals, cultures and nations. Stories have the power to unite us, but also have the power to divide, dehumanize and destroy. 

I have now had the incredible privilege to live and paint in the small town of Lich in Germany for three months. A town where my ancestry has been traced back to the 17 hundreds. My own story has brought me here as an American artist of German Jewish decent. My research has lead me down a winding and seemingly disjointed path, from the Teutonic mythologies of the Brothers Grimm to the American inception of the eugenics movement and beyond. The German to American pipeline (and vise versa) of culture and science seems shrouded in secrecy and often times nefarious intent. Examples being the lawful and legal segregation by race in America before the civil rights movement as an added and direct inspiration for Hitlers reign of terror. Another; Walt Disney seemingly usurped and neutered the fairy tales collected by the brothers Grimm in order to shape American values in the minds of the youth. ~Ryan Bock