NEW YORK—Will Ryman has taken ordinary objects—nails, bottle caps and paint brushes—and created three extraordinary works at Paul Kasmin Gallery. Each rely on space, scale and volume in their execution. Rustic nails compose an elegant bird that stands 12-feet tall. A slew of paint brushes have transformed an entire gallery space into a maze-like sculpture with an organic aesthetic. And a 90-foot figure with hands and feet made of shiny silver bottle caps has been wedged into another room. According to the gallery, Ryman’s works “alter scale and space by creating dreamlike environments and changing the meaning of everyday mundane objects.” The installations are awe-inspiring.
“Will Ryman: Anyone and No One” is on view from Feb. 16 to March 24, 2012.
All photos by Arts Observer
“Bird,” 2012 is composed of 1,500 actual and fabricated nails and weighs two tons.
Will Ryman stacked 200,000 paint brushes to create his labyrinth installation.
The organic, paint brush structure stands 14 feet high and is composed of three works “Infinity,” “Beginning” and “Madeleine,” (all 2012, chip brushes, steel armature).
The entrance to the paint brush installation is through the top of an enormous figure the artist created for the exhibit.
The face is has incredibly detailed features.
“Everyman,” 2012 (silver bottle caps, shoes, denim, aquaresin, steel armature), is a 90-foot-tall figure lying down, wearing Levi’s branded jeans and seemingly stuffed into a white box.
The shirt is made from the soles of 250 pairs of shoes.
The arms, hands and feet of the figure were created using 30,000 bottle caps.
