Ryan ESTEP offers a body of working delving into questions of touch, labor, materiality and process. Beginning with monochrome canavases, in the tradition of post-minimalism, ESTEP introduces protocols and artistic gestures to these paintings that do not immediately divulge the complexity of their creation. Expirementing with unusual materials, ESTEP acts upon his paintings as an engagement in a tactile experience, often giving new credence to the idea of the "hand of the artist". Working in series, each following a set of rules, which determine his gestures used but never their results, ESTEP could be described as a creator of so many intentional accidents. In the spirit of this process-oriented approach, ESTEP's Sterilized Dirt series follows a number of premediated steps. Dirt is mixed with organic disinfectant and then heated to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, killing all organic material and preventing further penetration of bacteria. What does one call dirt when it has been sterilized and thus no longer "dirty"? This now aseptic material is then silkscreened onto canvas and re-stretched while wet, inscribing the artist's presence into a work born of scientific transformation and protocols.