Curated by Elizabeth Denny and Katie Alice Fitz Gerald
June 27 – August 16, 2024

RYAN LEE is pleased to present Self (Contained), a group exhibition of 12 artists gravitating  towards the concept of the vessel as a metaphor for self and all of the meanings that the term holds.  Spanning different generations and mediums, the exhibition is co-curated by Elizabeth Denny and Katie Alice Fitz Gerald.

Self (Contained) looks to question art as a container both in terms of the physical object—which  artists fill with different media and narratives—and a conceptual holder of ideas and intangible reflections. Each work on view is filled with meaning by its maker, each is a reflection of the diverse  group of artists’ particular vision of the world.

CONTAINER AS AMPHORA

For artists such as Paula Wilson, Lizzie Gill, Paul Anagnostopoulos, Camille Billops, and Gabriela Vainsencher, for example, the Greek amphora itself serves as a way to visually represent mythological stories. In their work, its shape mimics or conceptually references bodies as containers. The self can be thought of as a homogenous vessel carrying a nuanced  interior. Through this prism the artists investigate their own selves and archetypes: the mother, the  hypermasculine queer male, the female as object.

Paul Anagnostopoulos (b. 1991, Merrick, NY) aggregates various histories, beliefs, and symbols in his paintings as a way to explore mythological desire and melancholy. His paintings act as portals to an idyllic paradise, serving as postcards from a journey that may or may not have been experienced. He has been included in group and solo exhibitions at Dinner Gallery, NY; the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, NY; and GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, PA. His work is in the collections of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Modern Art Archives and Library, NY; Rhode Island School of Design, RI; and Yale University, CT. Anagnostopoulos lives and works in Queens, NY.

CONTAINER AS CARRIER

For some artists in the exhibition such as Amanda Valdez, the vessel is a carrier of female histories and mythologies. For others, it is a conceptual trope to conceive of what contains the world around us, or what contains ourselves and the emotional life we embody and carry around. The artists  themselves become vessels for their own work, thus reflecting on authorship, on artmaking and creative ownership. Several artists explore both the physicality and concept of this: Brian Bress, Damien H. Ding, Francesca DiMattio.

Brian Bress (b. 1975, Norfolk, VA) is a video artist whose panel works incorporate performance, painting and sculpture, often placing life-sized humanoid figures behind the separating skin of a monitor screen, sharing a ritual and offering a curious companionship. Describing himself as coming to video with the agenda of a painter, Bress addresses the connections between film, photography, and painting—and the two-dimensional picture plane they share—in his single- and multi-channel video work. Bress’s work has been included in group and solo exhibitions at the Akron Art Museum, OH; Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Figge Art Museum, IA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Weisman Art Museum, MN; and the Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China, among others. Bress lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

CONTAINER AS APPROPRIATION

Artists Stephanie Syjuco, Hannah Lim, and Holton Rower look at the histories of such vessels which  have gone from functional objects to prized art pieces through institutions—appropriated for different purposes. Through their practice, they examine the need to acquire, and to collect. Their work underlines how the ownership and acquisition of objects reflects one’s own culture and self.

Stephanie Syjuco (b. 1974 Manila, Philippines) works primarily in sculpture, installation and photography, leveraging open-source systems, shareware logic and flows of capital to create friction between high ideals and everyday materials. Her conceptual craft practice translates digital content and process into physical experience, often with an active public component that invites viewers to participate as producers or distributors. Syjuco has had numerous solo and group exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, TX; MSU Broad Art Museum, MI; Museum of Modern Art, NY; National Portrait Gallery, DC; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, CT, among others. Her work is in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum, TX; Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PA; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, among others. She lives and works in Berkeley, CA.

Holton Rower (b. 1962, New York, NY) is known for his innovative work across sculpture, installation, assemblage, and painting. In his most recent series, Rower creates sculptures that push the boundaries of the clay medium in astonishing ways, appearing both novel and reminiscent of ancient artifacts. Rower’s dynamic visual language, balancing precision and spontaneity, draws viewers into a hypnotic, meditative experience, showcasing his deep love of materials and creative genius. Recent exhibitions include solos at Arthur Roger Gallery, LA; Cencebaugh Contemporary, NY; Galerie 6, Aarau, Switzerland; Galleria Maeght, Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France; The Hole, NY; and Venus Los Angeles CA. His work was also recently part of the Tectonic group exhibition organized by the Moving Museum in Dubai. Rower lives and works in New York, NY.