Situated in his downtown Medford studio space and surrounded by previously-completed and ongoing paintings, house plants and the distant sounds of spacey ambient music, artist Ryan Moon produces canvas creations that mesh the organic with the geometric.

Specializing in portraiture, Moon employs oil painting techniques to combine organic elements such as faces and hands with sharp shapes and lines to not only contrast the two elements, but to mix the classical, old-school aesthetic of oil with the contemporary.

The creative has been able to find his voice through the distortive, yet complimentary style.

“I’m experimenting with the fresh, the new, the technology and other things coming out, but then also using something that’s very traditional, and that kind of dichotomy is really fun for me,” Moon said.

The painter was born and raised in Medford.

Being raised by a single mother and living in different foster care homes from time to time, Moon’s childhood wasn’t easy, but drawing was a form of healing for him.

“I started doing a lot of drawing at a really young age … It was kind of like therapy, just living in a tumultuous environment and time,” Moon said.

His love for the visual arts continued to grow throughout adolescence, with Moon finding comfort in the art classrooms of his schools.

Another key to Moon’s continued artistic journey was Jannis Moon, his wife of nearly 22 years.

“I met my wife in eighth grade, and she also was an artist,” he said.

The two bonded over their shared love for art, with Jannis currently working as a makeup and hair artist, alongside her work as a mural painter and other creative undertakings.

“She’s always had my back and supported me in whatever my endeavors were … She’s always been the person to help inspire me,” he said.

As the two approached high school graduation, Moon was convinced he’d have to drop his art in pursuit of a “real” job.

A high school senior at the time, Moon started to study to become an electrician.

“I got into my first codes class and they dropped a massive binder in front of me and said, ‘These are all your codes that you have to memorize,’ and I left the class and I never went back,” he said of electrician school.

With encouragement from Jannis, family and close friends, Moon decided to attend the Southern Oregon Art Academy in Grants Pass.

“Going to art school, it was a very, very traditional art school; we painted a lot of still lifes, we did a lot of anatomy studies and some landscape paintings and we learned a whole array of different subject matter,” Moon said.

Moon discovered and honed his love for oil painting at the art school.

“Oil paint, it feels like you’re a part of history in a way, because for so many centuries oil paint’s been used,” he said, adding, “I love it, I love the way it moves, I love the rich luster to it, I love that fact that it dries slower.”

After graduating from Southern Oregon Art Academy, Moon linked up with art teacher and tattoo artist Jeff Gogue to cofound UB Productions, an online artist coalition. Moon spent some years developing his photography, graphic design and video work, but when the artist coalition ceased operations, Moon was unsure of his artistic future.

“When UB Productions ended, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do,” he said.

But with a few motivational nudges from Jannis to return to painting, he picked the paintbrush back up.

“She’s always been the person to help inspire me … She’s been my support and been the one to say, ‘Hey, you can do this, you can make this work,’” Moon said of his wife.

Moon built his reputation over time as a premier portrait artist, delivering distinctive original work along with creative paintings of superheroes, movie characters and other people by commission.

With the aid of artistic apprentice and Southern Oregon University student Adrian Chavez, Moon and the Chavez started doing pop-up art shows around Medford in 2019 and 2020 with a great showing of support from the local community.

Moon established the Marrow Collective — a coalition of artists in the Rogue Valley — and brought 1,000-plus attendees to multiple shows across Medford.

“We called it the Marrow Collective because your bone marrow is like your lifeblood, and if we’re going to create some sort of foundation, this is the art marrow of the city,” he said.

Unfortunately for Moon and the Marrow Collective artists, the pandemic put the kibosh on future shows, but the artist aims to bring them back in the near future.

“Hopefully at some point we’ll be able to do some more of these pop-up shows; we have a whole list of ideas,” he said.

Moon works with Medford businesses Rogue City Comics and Retro Wormhole, selling his pop culture paintings, and is currently working on a large-scale mural project in Ashland alongside his wife.

“The Columbia Hotel out in Ashland, that was a super random thing that I ended up getting introduced to,’ Moon said.

The project involves dozens of Rogue Valley artists putting their spin on dozens of murals within the hotel for an arts-centric vibe.

“I think the coolest thing about it is gave us free reign,” Moon said.

To check out Moon’s paintings, learn more about the Marrow Collective or find more information about the artist’s may projects, visit ryan-moon.com.