NYAB Event - Cordy Ryman "Adaptive Radiation"

Cordy Ryman "Adaptive Radiation"

DODGEgallery

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DODGEgallery presents Adaptive Radiation, Cordy Ryman’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Ryman includes a major installation scaling the floor and wall of the inner gallery. Other interjections punctuate the space among wall-hung constructions.

Stacked blocks, radiating hues, leaning 2x4’s, stapled Velcro, assembled paint sticks and stuck debris populate the crevasses and forms of each of Ryman’s works, as well as the rooms they inhabit. Ryman prefers a logical geometry of repeated forms, while being equally committed to found arrangements that interrupt themselves. The freedom of imperfection and play determine much of his process. Whether one attributes a piece to the category of installation, sculpture or painting seems loosely relevant here; the frame of the room, the squared form of a painting, and the modernist independence of an object are more directive than constraining. Ryman’s works resemble compulsive counting—with hiccups. Unexpected and irregular intrusions of pattern persist.

The repeated blocks that comprise each composition are Ryman’s signature material: 2x4’s. Most works begin with this recognizable building block, which Ryman further cuts, segments, paints, abuts and stacks, never obscuring the original form of the familiar, unremarkable lumber. Mill cut edges are always present and intermixed with the artist’s own saw cuts. Rough surfaces, complete with dings and splinters provide matter-of-fact evidence that mirrors the spontaneous and willful nature of Ryman’s process. Nothing is perfect.

Working with a range of paint types including fluorescent, acrylic, pearlescent, spray, enamel and other industrial paints, Ryman gives equal priority to color and materiality. He often asks color to physically perform. Muted tones are contrasted by bright edges that bounce hue onto surrounding architecture. Reflected color defines each work’s boundaries, while inhabiting less tangible, exterior spaces. Ryman’s titles often humorously suggest the potential for action, as if each piece required exertion to exist—or could liberate itself from a stationary existence. Perhaps Ryman’s ultimate gesture is making work from his own recycled pieces, as if his art is itself spawning and adapting.

Cordy Ryman was born in 1971 in New York, NY. He received his BFA, with honors, from the School of Visual Fine Arts/Art Education in 1997. Ryman lives and works in New York, NY.

[Image: Cordy Ryman "Adaptive Radiation" (2013) installation view. Photo: Jason Mandella]