Kathleen Ryan
Kathleen Ryan’s sculptural practice re-envisions the detritus of American life. Spoiled fruits become monuments in glistening stone; industrial parts and domestic ephemera are transformed into plants and animals. Reclaimed automobilia, mottled gemstone façades, and armatures of debris interlink and sprawl. Ryan marries disparate objects in novel formations, equally attuned to the material culture of her sources and to the classical considerations of sculpture. Gravity, formal dynamism, and negative space are as much a part of her vocabulary as marble, crystal, and the hoods of aging American muscle cars. With concision and irreverence, Ryan’s sculptures juxtapose kitsch, pastiche, and double entendre to reframe elements of Americana’s iconic visual bricolage, revealing both the beauty and the absurdity inherent in its cultural artifacts.
Kathleen Ryan (b. 1984, Los Angeles, CA) studied art and archaeology as an undergraduate at Pitzer College, and received her MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles under emeritus faculty Charles Ray and Catherine Opie. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany; New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, US; Cc Foundation & Art Centre, S a hanghai, China; and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Her work is held in numerous public collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, US; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, US; Crystal Bridges a Museum of American Art, Bentonville, US; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, US; LAM Museum, Lisse, Netherlands; and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, US. She lives and works in New York.
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Screwdriver, 2023
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Soft Palate, 2023
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Generator VIII, 2023
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Beach Scene, 2022
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Wither on the Vine, 2022
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Bad Strawberry (Chocolate Dipped), 2022
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Heart, 2022
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Generator II, 2022
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Bad Melon (Double Rainbow), 2022
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Bad Peach (Bite), 2022
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Jackie, 2021
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Bad Cherries (Dimples), 2020
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Bad Grapes, 2020
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Bad Melon (Wedge), 2020
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Pleasures Known, 2019
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Frequency, 2018
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Caliper, 2017
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Bacchante, 2017
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Pearls, 2017
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Diana, 2017
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Untitled, 2015
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Kathleen Ryan
Beachcomber February 18 - March 25, 2023 2245 E Washington Blvd., Los AngelesFrançois Ghebaly is proud to present Beachcomber by Kathleen Ryan in the Downtown Los Angeles gallery. Kathleen Ryan re-envisions the detritus of American life. Spoiled fruits become monuments in glistening...Read more -
Kathleen Ryan
Bad Fruit February 15 - March 29, 2020 2245 E Washington Blvd., Los AngelesFrançois Ghebaly is proud to present Bad Fruit , Kathleen Ryan’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition, a suite of new sculptures, opens with a public reception on...Read more -
Bad Peach
Group Exhibition August 10 - September 7, 2019 2245 E Washington Blvd., Los AngelesKelly Akashi Sayre Gomez Haroon Mirza Davide Balula Channa Horwitz Cassi Namoda Dan Bayles Patrick Jackson Eli Ping Neïl Beloufa Christine Sun Kim Umar Rashid Meriem Bennani Mike Kuchar Kathleen...Read more -
Liquid Dreams
Group Exhibition July 13 - August 10, 2018 2245 E Washington Blvd., Los AngelesKelly Akashi Farah Atassi Davide Balula Genesis Belanger Neïl Beloufa Lila de Magalhaes Dorian Gaudin Sayre Gomez Patrick Jackson Koak Joel Kyack Mike Kuchar Candice Lin Gina Osterloh Philip Pearlstein...Read more -
Kathleen Ryan
Weightless Again January 21 - February 25, 2017 2245 E Washington Blvd., Los AngelesThe old palm tree, circling itself, the triple-knotted neck of an ancient beast, survived somehow for decades in the shadow of a freeway bridge along the riverbed. With serpentine grace,...Read more -
SOGTFO
Curated by Charlie White February 28 - April 11, 2015 2245 E Washington Blvd., Los AngelesSOGTFO (Sculpture Or Get The Fuck Out) is a critical play on the misogynistic acronym TOGTFO (Tits Or Get The Fuck Out), a prompt directed at anyone claiming to be...Read more
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Kathleen Ryan, Hamburg review — a dreamworld of bowling balls and bejewelled fruit
Kristina Foster, Financial Times, May 22, 2024 -
Glitzy Rotting Fruit and Rusted Automobiles by Kathleen Ryan Consider the Tensions of American Consumerism
Grace Ebert, Colossal, March 6, 2023 -
kathleen ryan evokes the seaside in glittering series of moldy fruit at françois ghebaly gallery
Lea Zeitoun, designboom, March 2, 2023 -
Reviews: Kathleen Ryan at Karma New York
Jennifer Krasinski, Artforum, September 1, 2021 -
Bad Fruit, Fertile Ground: Kathleen Ryan at Karma
Matthew Nichols, Art in America, June 16, 2021 -
Kathleen Ryan
Cole Sweetwood, Artillery, May 6, 2020 -
Kathleen Ryan Creates Sculptures of Fruit Using Shimmering, Precious Gemstones
Lucy Reese, Galerie Magazine, April 5, 2020 -
Critic's Pick: Kathleen Ryan at François Ghebaly Downtown
Jessica Simmons-Reid, Artforum, February 15, 2020 -
Thousands of Gemstones and Beads Went Into These Moldy Fruit Sculptures
Sarah Rose Sharp, Hyperallergic, October 21, 2019 -
The Sculptor Making Massive, Moldy Fruits From Gemstones
Alice Newell-Hanson, The New York Times, September 13, 2019 -
Kathleen Ryan
Jennifer S. Li, Art in America, March 14, 2017