VERONICA RYAN, “An infection VII (Punnet I),” 2020 (dyed thread doily, stacked cardboard mushroom bins, stone casts, 5 7/8 x 19 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches / 15 x 50 x 50 cm). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE RA, Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photograph: Steven Probert
‘I’m actually concerned about contradiction and paradox and the way that actually speaks to our wider tradition.’ — Veronica Ryan
THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE museum survey of British artist Veronica Ryan (b. 1956) in the USA is being introduced at a pair of museums within the Midwest. “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects” just lately opened on the Pulitzer Arts Basis in Saint Louis, Mo., and can journey later this yr to the Wexner Heart for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. The exhibition presents greater than 4 many years of labor.
Born in Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, Ryan grew up within the England. Because the Nineties, Ryan had divided her time between New York and the UK. In 2022, she received the celebrated Turner Prize. Over the course of her profession, Ryan has developed a singular observe exploring private narratives and international histories. Her work engages problems with displacement and reminiscence, therapeutic and belonging, and environmental issues of consumption and waste.
“I’m actually concerned about contradiction and paradox and the way that actually speaks to our wider tradition,” Ryan stated a few years in the past. “I have a tendency to gather issues wherever I’m and that’s change into a part of how the work will get made as nicely, a bit like a magpie.”
Ryan works with bronze, marble, plaster, and wooden, conventional supplies reflecting her educational background, which incorporates research on the Slade College of Wonderful Artwork in London. She additionally employs discovered and reused gadgets, similar to textile scraps, seeds and pods, meals trays, pin cushions, bandages, and plastic bottles. She incorporates craft methods realized from her mom, bringing intergenerational data into her work by embroidery, needlepoint, and quilting. An early fellowship in Nigeria has additionally influenced her art-making strategies through the years.
“Unruly Objects” gives a complete examination of Ryan’s artistic output spanning the late Eighties to 2020s, with greater than 100 sculptures, textiles, and works on paper featured. CT
“Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects” is on view on the Pulitzer Arts Basis in St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025) and curated by Tamara H. Schenkenberg with Molly Moog. The exhibition will journey to the Wexner Heart for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, the place it runs from Aug. 22, 2025-Jan. 11, 2026
FIND MORE On April 17, 2025, Veronica Ryan can be in dialog with Courtney J. Martin on the Pulitzer Artwork Basis in St. Louis. Martin is the chief director of the Robert Rauschenberg Basis. Beforehand, she was director of the Yale Heart for British Artwork
Artist Veronica Ryan. | Photograph by Lisa Whiting Pictures. © Veronica Ryan Courtesy Alison Jacques, London
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
VERONICA RYAN, “Collective Moments III,” 2000/2022 (material, broad beans, thread, embroidery hoop, 18 1/2 x 11 x 1 5/8 inches / 47 x 28 x 4 cm). |© Veronica Ryan, OBE RA. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Courtesy Alison Jacques, London
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
VERONICA RYAN, “Territories,” 1986 (oil and graphite on paper, 21 4/15 x 29 2/15 inches / 54.0 x 74.0 cm) [VR 1]. | © Veronica Ryan Courtesy of Paula Cooper Gallery. Photograph: Kettle’s Yard
VERONICA RYAN, “Cluster,” 2021 (18 Bronze magnolia pods, fishing line, 43 5/16 x 6 11/16 x 3 1/8 inches / 110 x 17 x 8 cm). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE RA. Offered by the Up to date Artwork Society by its Particular Partnership with the Henry Moore Basis, supported by Cathy Wills, 2022/23, Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
VERONICA RYAN, “Momento Mori I,” 2022 (bronze, reconfigured medical pillow, 5 7/8 x 11 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches / 15 x 30 x 40 cm). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE RA, Courtesy Alison Jacques, London
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
VERONICA RYAN, “Collective Moments V,” 2022 (plaster, hairnet and plastic baggage, 4 x 3 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches / 10 x 9 x 16 cm). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE RA, Courtesy Alison Jacques, London
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
VERONICA RYAN, “Disavowal (She Follows You Round),” 2002 (photographic print and acrylic on cardstock, 17 7/8 x 19 7/8 inches (45.4 x 50.5 cm). | © Veronica Ryan OBE RA, Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photograph: Steven Probert
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
VERONICA RYAN, “Scaffold,” 2021-2022 (steel shelf, bronze, zip ties, empty espresso pods, sculpey, hydrocal, beads, self-hardening clay, bandages, thread, fishing line, plastic internet, embroidery ring, 63 3/8 x 36 1/2 x 26 inches /161 x 92.7 x 66 cm). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE RA, Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photograph: Steven Probert
VERONICA RYAN, “Candy Goals are Fabricated from These, 2021 (glazed ceramic stoneware, jute mat, 5 7/8 × 83 7/8 × 83 7/8 inches / 14.9 × 213 × 213 cm). Put in in Nonetheless Lives at The Hepworth Wakefied, March 2024–March 2025. | © Veronica Ryan, Offered by the Up to date Artwork Society by its Particular Partnership with the Henry Moore Basis, supported by Cathy Wills, 2022/23. Wakefield Council Everlasting Artwork Assortment (The Hepworth Wakefield), Photograph: George Baggaley
Set up view of “Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects,” Pulitzer Arts Basis, St. Louis, Mo. (March 7–July 27, 2025). | © Veronica Ryan, OBE, {Photograph} by Alise O’Brien Pictures. © Pulitzer Arts Basis and Alise O’Brien Pictures
BOOKSHELF
“Veronica Ryan: Alongside a Spectrum” was revealed in 2021 to accompany the artist’s solo exhibition at Spike Island in Bristol, UK. Veronica Ryan is among the many artist lined in “Black Artists in British Artwork: A Historical past for the reason that Nineteen Fifties” by Eddie Chambers
