NYAB Event - Will Ryman "America"

Will Ryman "America"

Paul Kasmin Gallery (515 W 27th)

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Paul Kasmin Gallery presents Will Ryman, America. Ryman will also exhibit his large-scale sculpture, Bird (2012), crafted from real and fabricated steel nails at the Flatiron Plaza located at Broadway and 23rd Street in collaboration with the NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program and the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, 24 March – April 21, 2013. America is inspired by the artist’s personal methodological exploration of the origins of capitalism within the scope of American history. Ryman uses found objects ranging from consumer products to industrial and hardware materials, to create masterful and intricate sculptures. Ryman’s installation questions both the history and the evolution of consumer capitalism in America. Through his creative process, Ryman strives to create work that explores the contradictions of the human condition.

Ryman appropriates Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood cabin to stand as an iconic emblem of American socio-economic conflict during the Civil War and its eventual transformation. The cabin, finished in gold chrome, is composed of an amalgam of American products and objects, each possessing their own history and American symbolism. Ryman’s cabin invites the viewer to literally step into the structure, allowing for the absorption of the meticulous detailed inlay of chrome-finished objects. The shackles and chains that make up the cabin’s foundation are covered with cross-shaped bulletproof glass, juxtaposing American religious culture and America’s involvement in the slave trade. The cabin as a whole marks a change in industrial and consumer products spanning over several centuries. The walls, trusses, roof and fireplace are composed of a variety of objects ranging from bullets-collected from historic battles such as the Civil War and WWII, pharmaceuticals, phone parts, cotton and corn, in addition to modern-day luxury products. The materials are all arranged in geometric shapes, imbuing a modernist aesthetic and structure within the cabin.

Will Ryman’s most recent exhibitions include, Anyone and No One at Paul Kasmin Gallery, NYC (2012); Will Ryman: Desublimation of the Rose, at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, FL (2011 – 2012); 90th Anniversary Installation at the Phillips at The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2011- 2012); and The Roses on Park Avenue, New York (2011). Individual works have been exhibited at the Verbier Foundation, Switzerland; the Sculpture Park at Frieze Art Fair, London; Fairchild Gardens; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN; The American Academy of Arts and Letters; Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820-2009 (2009), at The National Academy of Design, New York; and The Shape of Things to Come (2009), at The Saatchi Gallery, London. Sculpture: Selections from the collection of Martin Z. Margulies (2007), at Margulies Warehouse, Miami; and Greater New York 2005, at MoMA PS1, New York.

[Image: Will Ryman, Cabin (detail image), mixed-media gold chrome, 2013]