Ry Rocklen

Alanna Heiss and Joe Ahearn sit down with L.A. artist Ry Rocklen the day after his April 2014 opening at Untitled Gallery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and discuss his work, process, obsessions, music, and how he got his name. Hear Rocklen describe the creation of his cast ceramic articles of clothing, his furniture line called Trophy Modern, his relationship to the L.A. music and performance scene and specially with Bouquet, the band of his partner Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs, and how he got involved with Peter Norton's famous Christmas edition.

From the gallery release:
Constant in Rocklen’s practice is the paradoxical relationship between the familiar objects he selects and their distinguished treatments. Their subsequent ascension to dignity through porcelain casting, bronze plating, hand tiling and other mediums prive to timelessness most often transform easily destructed objects into durable monuments. In doing so, the treatments elevate the objects on display as well as evade particular, personal, distinctions. In casting the entirety of his own wardrobe, Rocklen has altered what was once his favorite collared shirt into the archetype of every three buttoned polo. What remains is the personal referent without the personal affect.

Ry Rocklen was born in 1978 in Los Angeles, where he lives and works. His recent solo exhibitions include A Living at Praz Delavallade, Paris, France (2014), Believe You Me at UNTITLED, New York, NY (2011), ZZZ at the Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, TX (2010), House of Return at Parker Jones, Los Angeles, CA (2009), Good Grief at Bernier/Eliades, Athens, Greece (2009) and Time After Time at Baronian Francey, Brussels, Belgium (2009). His work has been included in group exhibitions in institutions that include the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, MoMA PS1 in New York and the Whitney Museum (for the 2008 Whitney Biennial) in New York.

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