These block prints are the precursor to a series of work made by Ronnie Rysz depicting foreclosed homes in New Haven, Connecticut, in the 2010s.

Volatile shifts in the housing market continue to disproportionately affect a shrinking middle class, the working class, younger generations, and other disadvantaged populations. This suite of prints questions the concept of owning property and who benefits from financial practices and protections in the United States.

In developing his work, the artist was inspired by security patterns found inside envelopes from bank and credit card statements, representations of American currency, stocks, bonds, barcodes, maps of Connecticut, and other financial ephemera. These aesthetic elements are carved into linoleum, which is a construction material sometimes used as flooring in residential and commercial real estate.

Through this combination, Ronnie creates eerily familiar associations to documents assuming monetary value and legal importance, while unraveling the perception of stability they too often depict.

Collaborators

To create these block prints, Ronnie worked with printmakers from Milestone Graphics, the oldest continuously operating printshop in Connecticut.

For more information about the work, visit ronnierysz.com/foreclosures.