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Artworks
Bad Grapes (Desert Island), 2021
Agate, turquoise, amazonite, tektite, aquamarine, magnesite, jasper, garnet, Ching Hai jade, onyx, serpentine, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, copper tube and copper fittings38½ x 35¾ x 28½ in.
97.8 x 90.8 x 72.4 cmFurther images
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Assertive in their materiality, Ryan’s sculptures tackle formal concerns such as volume, weight, surface, and balance. Utilizing a diverse range of mediums—including marble, glazed ceramic, concrete, and found objects—she creates...Assertive in their materiality, Ryan’s sculptures tackle formal concerns such as volume, weight, surface, and balance. Utilizing a diverse range of mediums—including marble, glazed ceramic, concrete, and found objects—she creates oversized models of commonplace goods, defamiliarizing basic commodities. Taking the form of vintage decorative crafts that have been blown up to an imposing scale, her Bad Fruit series employs material irony and art historical tropes to play with expectation and desire; Ryan fashions decaying fruit from glittering beads, gemstones, and found items, illustrating her fascination with “how objects bring meaning and carry a history.”
Ryan’s Bad Fruit sculptures embody contradictions: the illusory weightlessness of their heavy forms; the insinuations of both kitsch and refinement; the negotiation between allegorical, historical musings and the stoic present. Subverting expectations of value, synthetic acrylic and glass beads simulate glistening flesh, while clusters of semiprecious stones play the role of pathogens such as penicillium digitatum. The sculptures ignite a sense of disorientation and mythic wonder through their materiality, scale, and evocative power. With painstaking technique, painterly sensitivity to color, and a biting sense of humor, Ryan suggests art’s capacity to both evoke and arrest the passage of time.1of 2 -
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