Kathleen Ryan’s sculptures reimagine the detritus of American consumerism, creating a spectacular vision of beauty and abundance now marred by decay. Originally inspired by holiday kitsch—artificial fruit ornaments frozen in time—Ryan enlarges these trinkets into monumental sculptures, mixing precious materials with salvaged objects.

Over weeks, Ryan observes actual decaying fruit in her studio. Mimicking their blooming mold and soft bruises on gem-encrusted sculptures, she builds a universe of rotting excess where materials of luxury now symbolize mortality. Fruit slowly dies while mold grows and thrives. Ryan intentionally crafts the rinds of her lemon sculptures from simple mass-produced beads and the rotting bits from precious stones, crystals, and pearls. Embracing the double entendre of “lemon” itself—referring to a defective or worthless car—she toys with cultural assumptions of value.

For Screwdriver, Ryan began by salvaging the trunk of a classic 1968 AMC Javelin from a junkyard. She then transformed the automotive metal into the rind of an orange slice. Topped with a cherry and skewered by a found patio umbrella, the piece now becomes a cocktail garnish. Deeply influenced by growing up in Southern California, Ryan’s practice has a distinctly West Coast flavor. If California represents an ultra-American promise of decadence, these sculptures reveal an ugly, yet inevitable, decay. Faced with such seductive, larger-than-life symbols of our own overconsumption, we are asked to confront the tenuous and illusory conditions of American culture.