July 11 – September 04, 2010

Lora Reynolds Gallery is pleased to announce our first solo exhibition of new works by New York based artist, Cordy Ryman, entitled Scrapple.  Rooted loosely in minimalism and abstraction, Cordy Ryman's paintings and sculptures address elements of architecture with rich texture and a unique color palette.  His intuitive and spontaneous process is propelled and determined primarily by the characteristics of his media.  Manipulating materials such as wood, metal, Velcro, Gorilla Glue, staples and scraps from his studio floor, Ryman's assemblages convey his hand in physical and humorous ways.

A departure from traditional archetypes, Ryman's paintings possess bold sculptural surfaces and forms.  In Devil Dog, Ryman hinges together two roughly cut blocks of recycled wood leaving them angled and agape at the center.  On the outward surface Ryman has applied splotches of white paint to reveal the wood's inherently crude texture.  The minimalist white also emphasizes a lone, residual, bent nail enflamed with a coat of red paint.  Ryman considers even the back of this work, as it dons a vibrant shade of jade - casting a green glow against the white gallery wall. 

Eschewing easy categorization, Ryman's works at once straddle sculpture, painting and installation.  For this exhibition a few of Ryman's painted sculptures will engage elements of the architectural space that are often unconsidered.  Referencing artist Carl Andre, Blue Brick Brace, is composed of uniform units of wood that systematically line the gallery floor and wall.  Yet, in contrast to Andre's austerity, Ryman's medium is primarily an aesthetic combination of painted and unpainted wood.  These intentionally hand-made and imperfect works are each beautiful, engaging, playful and art-historically rooted; yet they stem from Ryman's unique perspective.

Cordy Ryman was born in New York City, and received his BA from the School for the Visual Arts.  He has received the Rhodes Family Award for Excellence and the Helen Foster Barnett Prize.  Exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, Ryman was recently included in a four-person exhibition at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas.  His work resides in public collections such as the Microsoft Art Collection, the Rubell Family Collection and the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, among others.  Recently, Ryman has been featured in many publications including Art in America, Sculpture Magazine and the New York and Los Angeles Times.