Ry Rocklen

VENICE RELIC (WOODEN FLOWER PICTURE)

2012
found wooden picture, copper, and nickel plating
19 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches

Los Angeles artist Ry Rocklen fancifully transforms vintage objects into amusing works. He takes abandoned kitsch items and whimsically modifies them into seductively shiny post-minimalist pieces. In Venice Relic (Wooden Flower Picture), Rocklen takes an abandoned Italian knick knack and revitalizes it by nickel-plating the wooden source image, producing a work that is graceful and formal. Ry Rocklen lives and works in Los Angeles. Rocklen has been the subject of solo exhibitions at a number of galleries, and he has been included in group exhibitions at venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Whitney Biennial 2008); The Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; and Rental Gallery, New York.