KATHLEEN RYAN

precious decay

I suspect that it’s because of my being a painter and seeing the world through that lens, but when I look at Kathleen Ryan’s work all I can think about is getting close to and then stepping back from a Monet. Kathleen is a NY-based sculptor whose work holds layers of meaning and obvious inspiration from artists of the past. If you’ve seen an impressionist painting in person and had the chance to lean in and study the thick abstract brush strokes and step back to understand how they all come together, I think Ryan’s work will feel familiar. The work stops you in your tracks from a distance but up close, the work takes on a new life (and meaning) when you discover that you’re looking at precious stones like lapis lazuli and pearl. The stunning result leaves a viewer contemplating the beauty of the world (even in the unexpected) and also their waste and materialism.

With all of this in mind, I want to start us off with a detail today and then step back slowly to see the full work. I can’t help but think that this is one positive (maybe the only?!) of looking online rather than in person… we can start backward, looking closely and then zooming out.

Jackie, 2021 (detail), Azurite-malachite, lapis lazuli, agate, black onyx, breccicated jasper, moss agate, malachite, calcite, labradorite, rose quartz, smokey quartz, ching hai jade, red aventurine, carnelian, citrine, amethyst, quartz, acrylic, polystyrene, fiberglass, nails, steel pins, wood

While here we still have no idea what the whole is, the level of detail up close, and the result of an undoubtedly tedious job of placing each bead and stone is enthralling. My eyes keep searching around the image trying to find some sort of grounding while also noticing something new at every turn. I also know what this is (while hopefully you don’t) and I can only begin to imagine the experience of seeing the up close of Ryan’s work before seeing the whole body.

Ok, I’ll stop holding out on you, let’s step back:

Jackie, 2021 Azurite-malachite, lapis lazuli, agate, black onyx, brecciated jasper, moss agate, malachite, calcite, labradorite, rose quartz, smoky quartz, ching hai jade, red aventurine, carnelian, citrine, amethyst, quartz, acrylic, polystyrene, fiberglass, nails, steel pins, wood 66"H x 90"L x 86"W

I hope your jaw just dropped. That incredible detail we see in the first photo (I’ll wait while you scroll back up) is the molding insides of a jack-o-lantern. Wild huh?! I keep thinking that if I’d only seen the first photo without knowing Kathleen’s work I’d have guessed it was some kind of coral reef. The point being, if you didn’t know Ryan’s work before now, I’m betting your guess on what it is was wrong.

From Galerie Magazine, “The multilayered works reference themes of waste, consumption, power, and sexuality. “I’m interested in using the psychological weight of the actual material,” says Ryan. This whimsical play of contrasting elements and unexpected pairings—the beautiful and grotesque, old and new—runs through most of her work. Inheriting her mother’s love for finding great vintage and antiques, Ryan is as equally inspired by the decorative arts, ancient Egyptian sculptures, and Dutch still life paintings she discovers in museums as she is by the warehouse-size suburban junk stores in Jersey City, where she recently moved into a 3,000-square-foot studio that she shares with her boyfriend, artist Gavin Kenyon.”

Bad lemon (lichen), 2022

Speaking of Dutch still lifes, the lemon above feels like it was plucked right out of one, bringing up a variety of interesting reference points for the modern viewer. We can easily draw comparisons between Ryan’s fruit and Dutch vanitas painting, the rotten lemon reminds us of the worthlessness of worldly pleasure and excess by using precious stones to bejewel decay. We can also go down a bottomless rabbit hole of finding parallel meaning between Ryan’s work and the many layers of meaning in Dutch still lifes. Or even consider how for centuries artists have utilized lemons to create, “not only a visual representation of fruit, but a symbol of larger concepts such as globalization, commercialism, colonialism, sexuality, religion, linguistics, mythology, and pop culture.”

The art historical and cultural references are nearly endless in Ryan’s work, and Art News points out yet another reference point for the fruit:

“Although Ryan’s sculptures share thematic ground with seventeenth-century Dutch still life paintings, their morphological origins lie elsewhere, in the beaded fruit kits marketed to homemakers in postwar America. By pinning plastic beads and sequins onto Styrofoam balls, crafty consumers could easily create glittering replicas of ripe fruit for tabletop displays. (…) Given that many vintage beaded fruits were once treasured tchotchkes that now gather dust on thrift store shelves, Ryan’s faux fungi not only imply the passage of time, but also seem to manifest the nostalgia that can cling to the kitsch object.”

I hadn’t even considered those beaded fruits that I see all over eBay and flea markets, but now they seem such an obvious inspiration for the sculpture.

Kathleen Ryan, Bad Melon (Wedge), 2020.

Much of Kathleen’s work incorporates found items that hold cultural significance, juxtaposing their symbolism with a new, jeweled creation that pushes the viewer to reconsider what they know. In this case, an airstream trailer becomes a slice of spoiled watermelon.

The rind is fashioned from a beat-up Airstream trailer that Ryan purchased on Craigslist. “I like how objects bring meaning and carry a history,” she says. “The Airstream is an idealized symbol of Americana—of leisure and freedom. And here, it’s a broken, rotten watermelon.”

Some of Ryan’s more recent work moves away from fruit but continues to play with the familiar and fragile, treasured and cast off.

Generator III, 2022 Quartz crystal, silver-plated stainless steel cable, silver crimps, steel, Buick hood 66.5" H x 61" L x 12" W

Generator III uses a discarded Buick hood — undoubtedly very important to someone once upon a time — with a delicately strung spiderweb covered in crystal “dewdrops”. The resulting contrast is beautiful and tentative, perfectly described by one of Ryan’s galleries, Josh Lilley:

The slowness and precision in her process obliges us as viewers to take our time, even as the objects we see seem caught in the act of slipping away: a spider-web, jewelled with dew, that you might sweep away with one hand; a rotting strawberry, en route to mush. These transitory moments in the life of matter, and how art’s practices might hold it still, are active in Ryan’s work, even if they don’t lead quite where you’d expect.

If you’d like to know more about Kathleen Ryan start here, and also be sure to follow Kathleen on instagram at @katieryankatieryan

Let’s talk more next week, and as always, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments!