MIA RYAN CONLEY

Multidisciplinary Artist

Surrealist,
absurdist,
poetic,
participating in the material plane

CONTACT
CV

CONTACT:
Ryan.miaa@gmail.com

Thefoolsthesis.art

The Circus Thesis

CIRCO ANIMAE

Installation

2025
Earth, Paint, Mirrors, Reflections, Bed sheets and curtains from the Goodwill bins, Jackson’s grandmother's beads, Edison Light bulbs, Stop motion film, puppets having existential crises, Clowns from the moon, Sound

The world looks different when peered at over a red nose. No longer burdened by the pressures of normalcy, the clown is most comfortable out of place, upside down.

Putting on the clown nose was like removing leaden shackles from my dancing ankles and loud mouth. It was a sudden clarity, allowing me to fully see all the bits and pieces of myself that have accumulated. Pieces that were not mine at all, but given to me by the world. Politeness and passivity, presented as gifts, favors, but were ultimately bricks building a wall that caged the wild little girl I was. The Clown is the clarity of the child untamed, unconditioned. I no longer feel the impulse to hold my tongue, to make myself presentable by any standard but my own.

It's strange how authenticity feels like rebellion. How a simple act of existence can be so radical. When I go into the world in white grease paint, it's a way to remember what free will feels like. The social illusions melt away.

Social contracts are only valuable if they serve us, if they build community, or uphold morality. But when they only function to define hierarchy, to further isolate and control us; who are you trying to please?

Clowning feels like coming home. It feels like an apology to a past version of myself who already knew all of this in her bones, who already loved the absurd. In the absurd there is the truth. When I am able to remember, I get to walk through the world with the eyes of an infant. I get to live in the wisdom of the fool.

I believe that, now more than ever, our collective ability to harness absurdity is vital for building resilience and purpose. Shame does not build new worlds, taboo does not confront hard truths. But the Clown, as a psychospiritual entity, guides us towards a world that serves our authenticity as well as our autonomy. I do not have the road map to a perfect society, but I do know that breaking these cycles of repression and conformity will bring us one step closer.

Living Poetry

2024
Kombucha Grown Canvases fed with Butterfly Pea Tea & Old Wine
beeswax
Iron Pigments

Tie Me to the Earth

2023
Filmed in Berlin Germnany

In this piece I use powerful imagery of two dual realities that exist simultaneously to highlight the complexity and beauty of the human experience. Through themes of play, innocence, destruction and communion, this installation should raise questions about the fate of the next generation, spark reverence for the generations that came before us, and ultimately cultivate the human compassion that is so deficient today.

Full Artist Statement and English Translation :

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_27-Yzf8E_95lVjDxhWCvRONtn24TJkY/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102761969902118676120&rtpof=true&sd=true

Field Notes in Berlin

train ticket
Outdoor movie showing of Wings of Desire
Notes on Vestige
Tueffelsburg, Berlin
Photography
the Boros Colelction of Centemporary Art
A night out
Neue National Galarie
Drag Wrestling
collage
Tattoo
Surveillance art
Brain storming
charcoal
charcoal
charcoal
charcoal
Art store heaven
Another Night Out
Notes on the flea market
collage
a very fun band
dancing with women
fauna
collage
charcoal
Memorial of Murdered Jews
Jewish Museum
Prompts- found book page
the ritual of smoking
the ritual of smoking
Gaia and Graffiti
doodle

On Creation

creativity is one of fthe worlds most magical things. The embodiment of universal love. Creation is life force. As an artist I get to birth something beautiful every day out of my psychic womb. I feel nearly overwhedme by the possibility of it all. little pieces of my soul just itching to be freed, made manifest. Its addictive.

creation in any form puts you in the shoes of God. weather it is the sculpter and his stone, the painter and her canvas, the mother and her child. To create is to channel the divine.

Showing at the Salem Art Gallery this fall

2023| Bronze

Paintings

1. Cradled in Entropy, Acrylic, 2024
2. Cracked Egg, Acrylic, 2024
3. Silly Blossom, Guache, 2025

button 6

Charcoal

Dancing with the Ephemeral, 2023
Still Life, 2023

CV | Exhibitions