NEW YORK, NY.- CHART announced their representation of Will Ryman (American b. 1969). His first exhibition at the gallery, DINNER III, opens September 12. This exhibition will mark his first show in New York City in five years, featuring his most complex and ambitious work to date.
Dinner III (2019-2020) is a nearly life-size sculptural tableau of figures gathered around a table in the midst of a meal. Ryman’s assemblage combines found and sculpted objects, all cast in stainless steel. Four figures are seated on improvised chairs around a table chaotically strewn with half-eaten meals and various dinnerware.
A sense of distortion and isolation is exaggerated by shifts in scale. The artist’s use of polished stainless steel fractures and multiplies the scene, reflecting the viewer in the surfaces. Ryman’s amalgamation of the real with the absurd magnifies the surrealist nature of the sculpture.
The classic subject of a dinner is one Ryman has explored twice in previous works: Family Dinner (2005) and The Dinner Party (2010). A visual artist as well as a playwright, Ryman’s interest in literature, philosophy, and the Theatre of the Absurd is always present in his work.
The exhibition coincides with a current presentation of two large-scale sculptures by Ryman at Art Omi in Ghent, NY. These works include Pac-Lab (2017) and Sisyphus (2017) marking their American debut. The sculptures were first exhibited in 2018 at Parc de la Villette, the sprawling urban cultural park located in Paris’ 19th arrondissement. Concurrently, LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, New York is featuring a new 24’ tall rose, a signature sculpture, by Ryman.
Will Ryman (b. 1969) lives and works in New York. His museum exhibitions and public art installations include Will Ryman: La Villette, Parc de La Villette, Paris (2018); Cadillac, College for Creative Studies, Detroit (2017); Bird, Flatiron Plaza, New York (2013); Desublimation of the Rose, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables (2011); Rose, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2011); The Roses, Park Avenue, New York (2011); and Greater New York, MoMa P.S. 1, New York (2005). Will Ryman’s work is in the collections of numerous museums and sculpture gardens worldwide including The New Orleans Museum of Art; The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing; Frist Center for Visual Arts, Nashville; The National Academy of Design, New York; The Saatchi Gallery, London; The Verbier Foundation, Switzerland; 21c Museum Foundation, Louisville; and The Margulies Collection, Miami.
*Opening will be held in accordance with CDC guidelines; masks are required and social distancing observed.
