We are pleased to present nine sculptures by Matthew Ronay (b. 1976, Louisville, KY) in both our physical and online Viewing Room. This exhibit brings together a selection of wall-based reliefs and free-standing sculptures produced between 2015 and 2021 that were chosen and installed by the artist specifically for this presentation.
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Installation view, Matthew Ronay, Casey Kaplan Viewing Room, May 1 - July 30, 2021
In the center of the room, five colorful sculptures are assembled on a single pedestal, designed in response to the viewing room architecture. Ronay subtracts his artworks by hand from basswood; whittling meticulous textures and carving individual forms that are then sanded and dyed in vibrant hues. Produced in relation to a daily, automatic drawing practice, the resulting sculptures embody surreal forms that oscillate between the organic and the synthetic. Over the years, his creations have continued to offer a window into a fantastical world where the boundaries between the ordinary and the surreal dissolve, encouraging new modes of perception through abstraction and play.
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Installation view, Matthew Ronay, Casey Kaplan Viewing Room, May 1 - July 30, 2021
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Gemels, 2020
Baswood, dye, gouache, steel
19.75 x 10 x 9.5”/ 50.17 x 25.4 x 24.13cm
In March of 2020, Ronay turned his focus away from larger-scale sculptures and began to produce more intimately scaled artworks. This shift in focus was an intuitive response to the nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns, which had a strong effect on the ways in which Ronay thought about both making and viewing art. These new artworks require an acute attention to detail and engender a personal, one-on-one experience with the viewer. One of these works, Gemels (2020) seems to grow out of its wooden base; towering pale blue forms rise upward like coral. Looking closely next to the mauve globular inserts, the wood is porous and carved with delicate, tiny holes. Adjacent to the base, a salmon-colored form is revealed to have an almost felt-like texture, created through Ronay’s laborious whittling of the wood.
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Detail and alternate view: Gemels, 2020
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Detail: Gemels, 2020
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Linen and Leather Membrane, 2020
Basswood, dye, plastic, steel, cotton
13.5 x 15.25 x 7.25”/ 34.29 x 38.74 x 18.41cm
Linen and Leather Membrane (2020) echoes Ronay’s interest in natural phenomena in both form and title, referencing the human processing of organic substances. The sculpture suggests, but ultimately withholds, symmetry. Two marigold leg-like forms anchor the center of the composition. On one side, this symmetry is disrupted by a bright yellow trapezoid which covers much of the sculptural form while in other places basswood inserts tip the balance of the form. Intended to be viewed in the round, the geometrical balance of Linen and Leather Membrane changes from every direction one looks at it – no two angles are the same.
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Detail: Linen and Leather Membrane, 2020
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Alternate views: Linen and Leather Membrane, 2020
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Installation view, Matthew Ronay, Casey Kaplan Viewing Room, May 1 - July 30, 2021
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Recumbent Effigy, 2019
Basswood, dye, flocking, plastic, steel, gold leaf, HMA
8.5 x 15.75 x 9.5”/ 21.59 x 40 x 24.13cm
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Detail and alternate view: Recumbent Effigy, 2019
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Recumbent Effigy, 2019
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Inner, Outer, Hydro, Tropo, Expo, 2021
Basswood, dye, gouache, flocking, plastic, steel, epoxy
15.5 x 13.5 x 7.5”/ 39.37 x 34.29 x 19.05cm
Ronay draws from a myriad of visual references, from modernism and American folk art to fields of biology, ecology, and cybernetics. The most recent work in the presentation, Inner, Outer, Hydro, Tropo, Expo (2021) is comprised of vibrantly colored, undulating forms which seem to radiate in layers from a horizontal axis. A bright pink porous oval extrudes from a yellow, trumpet-shaped addendum, playing with the sculpture’s interior and exterior boundaries.
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Inner, Outer, Hydro, Tropo, Expo, 2021
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Detail: Inner, Outer, Hydro, Expo, 2021
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Doorbell, 2019
Basswood, dye, gouache, flocking, steel
10 3/8 x 6 7/8 x 7” / 26.35 x 27.62 x 17.78cm
In Doorbell (2019), Ronay renders a phallic protrusion dyed in flesh-like hues, that resembles a human earlobe, organ, or microscopic organism. While the work’s title suggests the intended function of a door knocker, the piece is specifically installed far above eye level - lending the work a comedic quality in its inutility. The tactile basswood and meticulously carved details contrast with Ronay’s playful use color, further pushing the boundaries between the synthetic and organic.
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Doorbell, 2019
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Doorbell, 2019
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Horizon Candelabra, 2015
Basswood, copper, steel, dye, gouache
24 x 13 x 5’’ / 60.9 x 33 x 12.7cm
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Detail: Horizon Candelabra, 2015
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Detail: Horizon Candelabra, 2015
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Installation view, Matthew Ronay, Casey Kaplan Viewing Room, May 1 - July 30, 2021
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Trickling Clump Protuberances, 2016
Basswood, dye, canvas, plastic, steel
36 x 26.25 x 10.25” / 91.4 x 66.7 x 26cm
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Detail: Trickling Clump Protuberances, 2016
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Alternate view: Trickling Clump Protuberances, 2016
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Ancestral Morphogen, 2015
Basswood, dye, gouache
13 x 9.5 x 2" / 33.02 x 24.13 x 5.08cm
An earlier work, Ancestral Morphogen (2015), echoes Surrealist three-dimensional wall works of artists like Max Ernst or Salvador Dalí. Within the frame, an undulating red and orange background vibrates behind tubular black extremities that are accented by neon green ovular addendums. Together, the center components read as alien fingers, while the technicolor background is pockmarked with black circular indentations, like the markings on a strawberry or a porous moonscape.
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Alternate views: Ancestral Morphogen, 2015
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Installation view, Matthew Ronay, Casey Kaplan Viewing Room, May 1 - July 30, 2021
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Irregular Shape, 2019
Basswood, dye, steel, plastic, flocking
8-3/8 x 4-3/4 x 1 3/8”/21.28 x 12.06 x 3.5cm
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Irregular Shape, 2019
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Detail: Irregular Shape, 2019
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Installation view, Matthew Ronay, Casey Kaplan Viewing Room, May 1 - July 30, 2021
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Nodulation Factor, 2021
Basswood, dye, steel
16.375'' x 13.25'' x 1.5'' / 41.6 x 33.6 x 3.8cm
