In his artistic work, Cordy Ryman moves in the border area between painting and sculpture. He uses everyday materials and building materials, predominantly wood, to support his paintings. The individual characteristics of each piece of material determine its further processing and design process. Accordingly, Ryman saws and paints the various “building blocks” and arranges them into lively, geometric objects and reliefs.

Cordy Ryman (born 1971 in New York) graduated from the School of Visual Arts New York in 1997. His most recent exhibitions have taken place at Tower 49 Gallery, Artpace in San Antonio, MoMA PS1, the Visual Arts Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art Miami and the Esbjerg Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, among others.

Ryman’s work is represented in major collections and exhibitions including MoMA PS1 (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami), the Esbjerg Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Academy of Arts and Letters (New York) and the Sarah Lawrence College Collection (Bronxville).

He is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, Traver Gallery, Seattle, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin, and Walter Storms Galerie, Munich. Cordy Ryman lives and works in New York City.

education

1997
BFA mit Auszeichnung in Bildender Kunst und Kunsterziehung, Hochschule für Bildende Künste

awards

2006
Helen-Foster-Barnett-Preis, Nationales Akademiemuseum
1997
Rhodes Family Award für herausragende Leistungen, Hochschule für Bildende Künste

selected collections

American Academy of Arts and Letters
Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia
Pizzuti Collection, Columbus
Raussmuller Collection, Basel
Rubell Family Collection, Miami
The Speyer Family Collection, New York
Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, Seattle

selected solo exhibitions

2025
Cordy Ryman, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton
2023
Monkey Mind Symphony, Freight+Volume, New York
2021
Constellations, Freight+Volume, New York
2020
Redux, The Bonnier Gallery, Miami
2017
FREE FALL, Tower 49 Gallery, New York
2016
Lorem Ipsum, Artpace, San Antonio
2015
Chimera 45, CCAD, Columbus
2013
shuffle / scrap / echo, Visual Arts Center, Summit
2011
Windowboxing, Conner Contemporary, Washington
2010
Tempest, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago
2004
Cordy Ryman, curated by Pelle Unger, Nordiska Kompaniet (NK), Stockholm

selected group exhibitions

2019
Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale that Society Has the Capacity to Destroy: Mare Nostrum, organized by The Brooklyn Rail on the occasion of the 58th International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Penitenti, Venice
2016
Not Figurative: a renewed interest?, The Contemporary Art Center, Meymac
The Onward of Art: American Abstract Artists, curated by Karen Wilkin, 1285 Avenue of Americas Art Gallery, New York
2015
Painting at the Edge of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs
2014
Painting: A Love Story, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
2013
Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Industry City, Brooklyn
2011
Free from Order: A Delight of Inconsistencies, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Connecticut, Storrs
2009
Aberrant Abstraction, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park
2007
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
2006
181st Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York
2005
Greater New York 2005, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (MoMA PS1), Long Island City
2001
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami
2000
Bumbershoot: Bumberbiennale, curated by Matthew Kangas, Seattle