ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ryan McCarthy is a watercolor and ink artist whose work centers on the emotional connection people have with architecture.

His fascination with architecture and design began early. At eight years old, he was selected to participate in an art exchange program with children Sri Lanka. In high school, he spent free periods sketching blueprints for woodworking projects and stayed up late with friends building sprawling cities in Minecraft.

His interest in architecture further developed at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where an introductory architecture course unexpectedly became his favorite class. Through assignments sketching architectural movements ranging from Stonehenge to Gothic cathedrals, he became increasingly fascinated not only by the design of buildings, but by the stories and identities they carried.

Two years later, after moving to New York to begin a career in finance, he became captivated by the pre war buildings and layered streetscapes of Manhattan’s East Side. Around that time, an exhibition of Edward Hopper paintings at the Whitney Museum quietly reshaped the way he observed the city around him. What began as evening sketches and watercolor paintings for friends and family gradually evolved into a larger artistic practice centered around preserving meaningful places through art.

Today, through RBM Art Studio, he creates custom architectural paintings that allow people to hold onto the places that matter most to them. His work was featured by the Chrysler Building official Instagram account and selected for Community Board 8 Manhattan’s 2026 Art Show on the Upper East Side.