"According to Ryman, the only advice his father ever gave him was essentially: If you try to do what others are doing, you will always be two steps behind. If you try to anticipate what the art market wants, you will not be doing what is yours. No matter what is going on, you should always follow your own path."
"His practice is based on keeping all the elements in play while being open to the possibilities of the materials that he has on hand. If a piece comes back from an exhibition, he will often use it to make another one. No work is finalized until it finds a new home; everything can be made into something else."
Cordy Ryman, son of painter Robert Ryman and painter Merrill Wagner, has established himself as an artist despite his formidable family legacy. Working in his Brooklyn studio, he constructs paintings from 4-by-8-foot sheets or 2-by-4-inch wood boards, employing various acrylic paints in matte and glossy finishes across any color palette. His practice emphasizes material flexibility, allowing completed works to be repurposed into new pieces. Ryman's father advised him to pursue his own artistic path rather than following market trends or imitating others' work. His resulting art is playful and inventive, maintaining visible wood elements even beneath paint layers, creating a distinctive aesthetic that honors minimalism while establishing independent artistic identity.
Read at Hyperallergic
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