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Opening reception: Friday, July 20th from 7pm – 9pm
Kayne Griffin Corcoran is pleased to present an exhibition of
new work by Liza Ryan consisting of large-scale color
photographs and a multi-image installation.
In this series, Ryan explores the interconnectivity of seemingly
disparate elements. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Rare
Bloom, a sculptural installation of 180 photographs mounted to
panels of varying thickness. Rare Bloom’s non-linear narrative
and filmic imagery lead the eye in a variety of directions,
expanding the idea that a story can be told and experienced in
innumerable ways.
Central to both the stories and composition of Rare Bloom is an
image of a woman’s torso in a black jacket, its button straining,
on the verge of popping off. Throughout the work, the question
arises repeatedly: what will bloom once the barely-contained
interior is released? Rare Bloom derives its power from this
tension. The imagery suggests a multitude of possibilities that
seethe beneath the veneer of ordinary life.
In much of her work, Ryan tests ideas of opposition and duality.
Exposing the malleable nature of these perceptions remains at
the core of her practice and continues in this series with an
exploration of preconceived notions of the mundane and
sensational.
By opening the Rare Bloom composition with Bloom #3 – an image of a hand waving a fan – Ryan repurposes the
languid gesture into an unexpected catalyst for the flood of activity to follow. In Bloom #1 smoke drifts ominously
out of a trashcan against a backdrop of blooming pink azaleas. In I push a petal from my gown, a woman standing
calmly before a green landscape exhales a plume of fire, indifferent to the camera’s gaze. When viewing these
works, one gets the sense of witnessing the interminable moment just before disaster strikes, that Pandora’s box is
about to be opened.
Ryan draws inspiration from a variety of sources including music, literature, and film. In describing her interest in
the friction that results when juxtaposing certain images, she cites a quote from Robert Olen Butler, “When you’re
listening to a song, a certain kind of expectation develops harmonically…and when that expectation is set up, the
moment that gives you chill bumps is when the music cuts against the grain. Musicians call it the rub. Two things
rub against each other, and that’s what gives it life, the unexpected thing that nevertheless feels just right.”
Liza Ryan’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. She was one of three American artists
selected to exhibit at the Biennale of Sydney (2006). She has been included in museum exhibitions at The
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art;
and Miami Art Museum. A recent solo exhibition at Hollins University will be supported with a catalog. She has also
been the subject of solo exhibitions at Reed College and The Herter Gallery at the University of Massachusetts. In
2009, The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired a thirty-foot long multi-paneled photographic work by Ryan through a
gift from Manfred and Hanna Heiting. Her work is also held in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the
Maison Européen de la Photographie, Paris, among others. Ryan lives and works in Los Angeles.
For additional information, please contact the gallery at 310-586.6886 or visit our website at www.KayneGriffinCorcoran.com
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