Purple Magazine
— Purple #45 S/S 2026
The New Glamour Issue
kathleen ryan
GLAMOROUS DECAY
American sculptor Kathleen Ryan creates large-scale sculptures of decomposing fruits and food using an array of glimmering materials such as glass beads, rhinestones, gems, and carved stones, as well as discarded materials — composing sculptures that appear suspended in different states of glamorous decay.
Through her glittering sculptures of perishable foods — a contemporary form of vanitas or memento mori — Ryan critiques consumerist culture, excess, and decadence.
The work reflects our obsessive attraction to luxury objects and the fetish of merchandise whose value is ever more seasonal and short-lived. In this continuous cycle of consumption and decomposition, Ryan exposes the paradox of desire, revealing how luxury cannot prevent decay, loss, or mortality.
ALL ARTWORK COPYRIGHT KATHLEEN RYAN, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KARMA
-
Kathleen Ryan, bad lemon (tart), 2020, citrine, amber, agate, turquoise, fluorite, prehnite, magnesite, ching hai jade, quartz, amethyst, garnet, labradorite, white lip shell, serpentine, sesame jasper, zebra jasper, gray feldspar, marble, glass, and steel pins on coated polystyrene, 19 x 16 x 17 inches, photo Lance Brewer
-
Kathleen Ryan, starstruck, 2025, agate, tektite, obsidian, amethyst, amber, pyrite, hematite, lapis lazuli, lava rock, black kyanite, smoky quartz, garnet, carnelian, jasper, tiger’s eye, wood, glass, acrylic, aluminum and steel pins on coated polystyrene, 77 x 80 x 20 1/2 inches, photo Lance Brewer
-
Kathleen Ryan, bad grapes, 2020, amethyst, aventurine, agate, garnet, pyrite, ruby in zoisite, tektite, tigereye, turquoise, serpentine, obsidian, blackstone, Indian unakite, labradorite, sierra agate, red agate, black agate, quartz, marble, amazonite, rhyolite, calcite, dalmation jasper, glass, steel and stainless steel pins, copper tube and copper fittings, polystyrene, 59 1/2 x 90 x 54 inches, courtesy of François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, New York, photo Marten Elder