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May Issue 2007
Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Kristi Ryba
The
Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC, is excited to present works
by Kristi Ryba in a show entitled Keeping House, on view
from May 4 - 30, 2007.
Ryba's paintings and videos are contemporary art pieces tackling a traditional subject. In Ryba's own words describing her work and approach she says, "Using dolls to serve as standardized human forms, my work examines cultural roles, relationships and common experiences such as growth, transition and change. My primary interest lies in exploring the traditional gendered roles of women, principally motherhood and the domestic sphere. Not calculated in our economy as productive work, women's family labor continues to hold little status and is sentimentalized as a labor of love. Drawing ideas from personal experience and cultural influences, my focus is to question and explore how in our society these gendered roles known as 'women's work,' have become and remain trivialized and of no or low economic value."
Dolls are the embodiment of the notion for all that is female. The first dolls in Ryba's work were baby dolls saved from her childhood. Over the years, while interest in dolls has remained constant, the domestic themes have expanded and the actual doll objects have changed. Always on the look out for new material, the imagery is now comprised of many more types of doll figures, some which more closely depict a contemporary experience, while others illustrate a contrast between the past and the present.
The substance of the intelligence behind the warmth and love served with cookies just out of the oven has been ignored. The tradition of which Ryba speaks has so permeated the psyche that one wonders when the message will get through that women are the ones who provide stability and comfort. Expanding upon Ryba's focus ones sees that working outside of the traditional roles has not cured the balance even in a time of "equality" and equal opportunity.
One can hope that Ryba's work - the use of the dolls that began as a response to and an exploration of these early messages about traditional roles for women - will bring to focus the issues and wake up rational beings to what equality means. How wonderful that acknowledgment of women's multifaceted roles and their importance can grow out of something that is familiar. The images provide comfort in their familiarity. Or do they? Does the mythology of happy domesticity ring true? Ryba should be complemented for creating a dialogue in an appealing, quiet way and thereby laying a path for growth to occur.
Exhibiting since 1990 in both solo and group shows, Ryba's work has toured through the Southeast in painting and printmaking exhibitions. Since 2005, her paintings and videos have also been showing in New York. She has won various awards and scholarships including two South Carolina Arts Commission Project Grants. A magna cum laude graduate of the College of Charleston, Ryba also studied at Vermont Studio School and Studio Camnitzer in Valdotavvo, Lucca, Italy, and has her MFA from Union Institute and University, Vermont College in Montpelier, VT.
A founding organizer of Print Studio South, Inc., Ryba served as President and on the Board of Directors, and has taught locally in both adult and children's programs. Ryba was one of 10 artists featured in the 2002 Piccolo Spoleto exhibit, Larger Than Life: A Second Story Show, Contemporary Charleston 2004, and in Helping Hands: An artist's debut among friends, in 2005. Ryba shows in New York at the SILO gallery and was in the 2007 SOHO20 Chelsea show honoring The Feminist ART Project.
Corrigan Gallery LLC opened in 2005 presenting art with a future backed by intellectual process. From borderline traditional to the contemporary abstraction, the gallery, located in the heart of the historic district, combines the charm of the old city of Charleston with a look to the future. Paintings, drawings, fine art prints, photography and sculpture can be seen. Artists represented include Manning Williams, Candice Flewharty, Kevin Bruce Parent, John Moore, Beverly Derrick, JD Cummings, Sue Simons Wallace, Daryl Knox, Gordon Nicholson, Lese Corrigan and Karin Olah.
For further info check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/722-9868 or visit (www.corrigangallery.com).
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