Kathleen Ryan

Kathleen Ryan, Bad Fruit (series), 2020. Installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby

Kathleen Ryan, Bad Fruit (series), 2020. Installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby

Kathleen Ryan, Bad Cherries (Legs), 2020. Installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Ben Nuttall

Kathleen Ryan, Mother of Pearl, 2019 Installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Stuart Whipps

Kathleen Ryan, Mother of Pearl, 2019 Installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Stuart Whipps

Kathleen Ryan, Mother of Pearl, 2019 Installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Stuart Whipps

PreviousNext

Kathleen Ryan (b. 1984, California, USA) lives and works in New York, USA. Ryan works with cast iron, carved marble, granite and found objects to create sculptures that reference natural forms and industrially manufactured produce. Ryan engages with formal sculptural concerns such as volume, weight, pressure, balance, and line, while subtly alluding to the material’s historical and economic underpinnings, along with frequent references to the human body and classical motifs. Recent exhibitions include The New Art Gallery Walsall, UK (2019); MIT LIST Visual Arts Centre, USA (2019); CC Foundation & Art Centre, China (2018); and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Austria (2017).

Project Description

Kathleen Ryan presented large-scale sculptural works at Bluecoat and The Lewis’s Building. Taking inspiration from the natural world, the sculptures engage with the complexity of object histories, the circulation of objects and their relationships with nature. The seven-and-a-half-feet-tall iron structure titled Mother of Pearl (2019) alludes to the form of a furnace – a facilitator of industry which is dependent on natural materials for fuel – it is figurative and infinite in shape, its rusty exterior contrasted by a smooth abalone shell interior.

Select sculptures from Ryan's 'Bad Fruit' series, Bad Lemon (Slice) (2020), Bad Cherries (Legs) (2020) and Bad Peach (Cheeky) (2020), are still on display at Bluecoat until September. Combining both found and forged elements, Ryan’s sculptures negotiate the organic and the mechanic, acting as reminders of extraction.

Our full exhibition programme is now closed, but visitors can still enjoy art in person at FACT and Bluecoat until August & September. Plan your visit here.