Bad Lemon (Crystal)

Kathleen Ryan crafts sculptures of decaying fruit that are at once alluring and profoundly disconcerting. Often working months at a time on a single piece, she carefully modulates the placement of each bead, reserving the most precious materials to depict areas of mold and decay. Acknowledging the opulent nature of her sculptures, Ryan has also observed: “There’s an inherent sense of decline built into them, which is also something that’s happening in the world: the economy is inflating, but so is wealth inequality, all at the expense of the environment.”