A group exhibition of works by Terry Adkins, Matias Faldbakken, and Veronica Ryan celebrates the artists’ shared interest in the notion of re-purposing. With a unique sculptural vocabulary, each artist sources and transforms overlooked materials both fabricated and organic.
Terry Adkins produced enigmatic sculpture from salvaged materials imbued with social and historical significance by their previous uses. The manufactured forms of the works reference minimalism in their symmetry and remarkable elegance, while the irregular patinas reveal the past lives of distinct parts. In a process the artist described as “potential disclosure,” Adkins would allow his found objects a period of gestation before realizing their transformed purpose in sculpture. Adkins considered his re-purposing of selected materials to be a continuation of their ongoing acquisition of cultural meaning, and he would physically and conceptually transform existing works for new sites and circumstances. The works on paper included in [Re]Purpose also adapt found materials: botanical engravings provide a ground for vivid blue gouache in After Bonaterre 97 & 99 (2013), and plant-life harvested by the artist gives form to the two Botanical Prints (2005).
Matias Faldbakken examines how visual information is endlessly multiplied, transmuted and undermined in the digital age by re-contextualizing found images and manipulating mass-produced objects. A work from the artist’s Screen Overlaps series (2016) is composed of an antique meat grinder supporting a screen-like plastered surface onto which a sequence of repeated images has been applied, suggesting an uncontrollable reiteration caused by malware, or layers of wheat-paste posters and vinyl billboards. Examples from the artist’s FUEL SCULPTURE series (2017) use funnels, jerry cans and plastic jugs as casting molds for poured concrete sculptures, rendering the innards of these ubiquitous items visible and thereby collapsing perceptions of interior and exterior. Faldbakken’s use of overlooked materials and seemingly indifferent execution challenges traditional modes for generating sculpture.
Meticulously handmade sculptures by Veronica Ryan transform overlooked everyday materials into treasures. Made with fruits, seeds, pods, husks, and the manufactured materials used to divide and transport them, Ryan’s fragile sculptural propositions are rich with signification. Early pieces on paper are highly personal in their incorporation of medical care items, and others have a universal significance imparted by surprising uses of ubiquitous materials, such as the brightly colored netting one might buy fruit or nuts in at the market. Nestled in niches, stacked on shelves, suspended, hanging, or neatly arranged on the floor, the works represent diverse psychological propositions and embody issues of displacement and alienation particular to their context.
Terry Adkins (1953–2014, b. Washington, D.C., d. Brooklyn, NY) studied printmaking before receiving an MFA in sculpture from the University of Kentucky, Lexington. One-person exhibitions of Adkins’ work include Recital at the Frances Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, NY, that travelled to the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, IL (2012); an exhibition of video art at the University Galleries at Illinois State University (2016); a restaging of performances by the Lone Wolf Recital Corps, Adkins’ revolving collective, at the Museum of Modern Art, NY (2016); Infinity is Always Less Than One at the ICA Miami (2018); Resounding at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (2018); and shows at the Fisk University and the Frist Museum in Nashville (2020). Adkins was included in the Performa Biennial in 2013, the Whitney Biennial in 2014 and the Venice Biennale in 2015. From 2000 until his death, Adkins was a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Matias Faldbakken (b. 1973, Denmark) has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo (2017–2018); Le Consortium, Dijon (2013); WIELS, Brussels (2012–2013); The Power Station, Dallas (2011); Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2010); Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (2010); Kunsthalle St. Gallen, St. Gallen (2009); IKON Gallery, Birmingham (2009); and The National Museum of Art, Design and Architecture, Oslo (2009). Selected recent group exhibitions include Fear of Property at The Renaissance Society, Chicago (2022); the Lorck Schive Art Prize exhibition at Trondheim kunstmuseum, Norway (2021) and My C art ography, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid, Spain (2020). While working across painting, drawing, sculpture and video in his art, Faldbakken is also known internationally for his writing, including the novels The Cocka Hola Company, Macht und Rebel, and Unfun. Both The Waiter (2018) and Stakkar (2022) were shortlisted for the Brage Prize (the main literary prize in Norway).
Veronica Ryan OBE (b. 1956, Plymouth, Montserrat) studied at St. Albans College of Art and Design, Bath Academy of Art in Corsham Court, The Slade School of Art at University College, London, and The School of Oriental and African Studies at London University. Ryan’s first one-person exhibition was at Arnolfini, Bristol in 1987. Other important one-person shows have been presented at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (1988); Camden Arts Centre (1995); Aldrich Museum (1996); Salena Gallery, Brooklyn (2005); Tate St Ives (2000, 2005 and 2017); The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh (2011); The Art House, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England (2017); and Spike Island, Bristol (2021). In 2022 Ryan was included in the Whitney Biennial and she was awarded the Turner Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes for visual arts in the United Kingdom. From February 7 through June 11, 2023, Ryan’s work will be on display at the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates. Ryan lives and works in England and New York.
