Kathleen Ryan
Kathleen Ryan (b. 1984, Los Angeles, CA) is a New York-based sculptor. Insistent on their physicality, Ryan’s sculptures recast found and handmade objects as spectacular, larger-than-life hieroglyphs of Americana. Her mediums, which range from bowling balls to a deconstructed Airstream camper, are both familiar and iconographic, and seemingly lost in time. These materials are often at odds with the subjects they represent: delicate, sensual grapes are rendered with heavy, utilitarian concrete; mold colonies are composed of semi-precious gemstones. As in Dutch vanitas paintings, the relics of the everyday—seed pods, jewelry, domestic fixtures, moldy fruit—become tongue-in-cheek allegories for sexuality, decadence, and the cycle of life.
After studying archaeology and art as an undergraduate at Pitzer College, Ryan pursued a Master of Fine Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied under artists Charles Ray and Catherine Opie. She has held institutional solo exhibitions at New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK (2019); MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, USA (2019); Cc Foundation & Art Centre, Shanghai (2018); and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (2017).
Her work is held in public collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas; the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.
Born in 1984, Santa Monica, California
Lives and works in New York
EDUCATION
2014
MFA, University of California, Los Angeles
2006
BA, Pitzer College, Claremont, California
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, Aldrich Projects: Kathleen Ryan, Head and Heart
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, Beachcomber
2022
Josh Lilley, London, Red Rose
2021
Karma, New York
2020
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, Bad Fruit
2019
The New Art Gallery, Walsall, United Kingdom
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cultivator
2018
Josh Lilley, London, Seven Sculptures at Sunset
Cc Foundation, Shanghai, Man Made Moon
2017
Arsenal, New York, Pink Hook Iron Eyes
Theseus Temple, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Bacchante
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, Weightless Again
2016
Josh Lilley, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, Spirit in the Land
Bortolami Gallery, New York, Junkyard of Dreams
2022
Gallery 125 Newbury, New York, Wild Strawberries
Tanya Bonakdar, New York, Fruiting Bodies
The Royal Academy, London, Summer Exhibition
Lyndhurst Mansion, New York, Women’s Work
APALAZZOGALLERY, Brescia, Italy, Strange Attractors, The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art, Vol. 3: Lost In Space, Organized by Bob Nickas
2021
Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Bodywork: Discomfort and Existence
Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, The Stomach and the Port
Josh Lilley, London, Time Takes a Cigarette
2020
Cc Foundation, Shanghai, Wild Cinema
2019
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, Bad Peach
Josh Lilley, London, Stains on a Decade
Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal, Alternate Realities – Selection of Works from the Collection
Desert X, Coachella Valley, California
2018
Katonah Museum of Art, New York, Outrageous Ornament: Extreme Jewelry in the 21st Century
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, Liquid Dreams
Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, Sculptures
Tanya Bonakdar, New York, Pine Barrens
Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, California, Vision Valley, organized by The Pit
Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, Spieltrieb
2017
Simon Lee Gallery, New York, The Leftovers, curated by Franklin Melendez
Wentrup Gallery, Berlin, L’Été plus vaste que l’Empire
2016
Josh Lilley, London, Water Biscuit
The Pit, Glendale, California, Flavr Savr*
Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College, Los Angeles, Performing the Grid
2015
Grice Bench, Los Angeles, Jeff
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, SOGTFO
Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California, 71st Scripps Ceramics Annual
2014
Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, Artificial Complexion
Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, 2x2x2: Nevine Mahmoud & Kathleen Ryan
Josh Lilley Gallery, London, Control Lapse
Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, The White Album
Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CK1 Daily
3 Days Awake, Los Angeles, A Meerkat’s Whistle
Helmuth Projects, San Diego, Temecula
New Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, MFA #3
Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, California, Corporeal Impulse
2013
New Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, MFA Preview
Irvine Fine Arts Center, California, Wall Painting
2012
Actual Size, Los Angeles, Qualified by Light
Los Angeles,Kottabos, curated by Marina Pinsky
ForYourArt, Los Angeles, The Planter Show
2011
Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California, My head is falling out so I’m standing on my stomach
The Notary Public, New York, HAKKA
2010
workspace, Los Angeles, Tasteful Improvements
Infernoesque, Berlin, Hollowing
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Cc Foundation and Art Centre, Shanghai
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
AWARDS
Rosa Schapire Art Prize, Hamburger Kunsthalle
Dean’s Award, UCLA
D’Archy Hayman Scholarship, Los Angeles
Laura Andreson Scholarship, Los Angeles
UCLA Art Council Award, UCLA
Graduate Division Award, UCLA
University Fellowship, UCLA
Keck Scholarship, Pitzer College, Claremont, California
PUBLICATIONS
Kathleen Ryan
Bad Fruit
Interview by Ali Subotnick
Karma, New York, 2020
144 pages, hardcover
10 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches
