The first monograph on an artist whose theatrical sculptures elevate the grit and absurdity of everyday life into monumental, thought-provoking installations.Will Ryman was destined to become an artist—born and raised in New York City into a revered art family (his father is the late Robert Ryman), the city in all its hard-scrabble beauty shaped him from a young age. Best known for sculptures and installations that fuse satire, spectacle, and a distinctly urban sensibility, Ryman trained as a playwright before turning to sculpture. In his work, he transforms overlooked details of daily life—roses and pigeons, trash bins and candy wrappers—into larger-than-life forms that are humorous, unsettling, and unexpectedly poignant.
His signature monumentally scaled rose sculptures have been exhibited as public art projects from New York City to Taipei. His work is held in prominent public collections, including The Broad, 21C Museum Foundation, and the Margulies Collection, as well as regional institutions such as the Farnsworth Museum.
Ryman’s theatrical vignettes of street life brim with wit while engaging themes of consumerism, labor, mortality, and the fragile beauty that persists amid urban disorder. This special volume features three different paper stocks and is bound in a silver, highly reflective foil paper that mirrors the materials the artist incorporates into his work.
The first monograph on an artist whose theatrical sculptures elevate the grit and absurdity of everyday life into monumental, thought-provoking installations.
Will Ryman was destined to become an artist—a lifelong New Yorker raised in a revered family of artists, he was shaped from a young age by the city in all its hard-scrabble beauty. Best known for sculptures and installations that fuse satire, spectacle, and a distinctly urban sensibility, Ryman trained as a playwright before turning to sculpture, creating a practice that melds the two disciplines. In his work, he transforms overlooked details of daily city life—pigeons, subway scenes, newsstands—into larger-than-life forms that are humorous, unsettling, and unexpectedly poignant. In addition to these works, his large-scale political tableaux are powerful evocations of the forces that shape our civic lives.
His signature monumentally scaled rose sculptures have been exhibited globally as public art projects from New York City to Shanghai. His work is held in prominent public collections, including The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing; the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland; the Frist Art Museum, Nashville; the Margulies Collection, Miami; the New Orleans Museum of Art; and the 21c Museum Foundation, among others. The Parrish Art Museum in Watermill, New York, will host a long-term outdoor presentation of the artist's work beginning in 2026.
Ryman's theatrical vignettes of street life brim with wit while engaging themes of consumerism, labor, mortality, and the fragile beauty that persists in urban settings. This special volume features two different paper stocks and is bound in a gunmetal-gray case.
