Kathleen Ryan, Sculptor of Decomposed Fruit, Joins Gagosian

Kathleen Ryan b. 1984, United States Follow +

Californian artist Kathleen Ryan, who sculpts rotting fruit as a reflection on American excess, has joined Gagosian. The gallery will assume Ryan’s global representation and open her debut exhibition in 2026.

Now based in New Jersey, Ryan is known for her ‘Bad Fruit’ series (2018–ongoing), inspired by European vanitas painting, meditating on opulence and decay, and the decorative craft tradition of pin-beaded fruit.

Screwdriver (2023) at the artist’s current exhibition at Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICA SF), for instance, comprises a massive orange rind-turned cocktail glass made from the trunk of a classic car and topped with a beaded cherry and patio umbrella.

Ryan watches fruit decay over weeks in her studio as part of her process. She recreates their skin using beads, moulds, and bruises with gemstones such as opals. The coexistence of life and artifice in the same object invites at once disgust and intrigue.

Ryan was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1984. She graduated with a BA from Pitzer College, Claremont, in 2006 and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2014.

Her first museum survey opened this year at Hamburger Kunsthalle, and she will travel to the Kistefos Museum in Norway next year. Spotlight: Kathleen Ryan at ICA SF is on view until 23 February 2025. —[O]

Main image: Kathleen Ryan in her studio (2024). Courtesy the artist and Gagosian. Photo: Jeff Henrikson.