Kathleen Ryan’s Bad Fruit

Artist Kathleen Ryan's life-sized moldy fruit sculptures are made using over 10,000 glass beads, semi-precious stones and pearls, each of which are attached by steel pins into polystyrene foam bases. They also represent a serious, underlying message. Despite their opulence and beauty, there's decay and rot at the core, reflecting the excessive consumption that plagues our world today. The New York based artist's series 'Bad Fruit' is a commentary on the culture of excess. If you look closely, you'll notice that Kathleen uses glass beads for the ripe part of the fruit and reserves the expensive, semi-precious stones, like malachite, milky opal, turquoise, and smoky quartz, for the rotting areas. Most of these sculptures can take up to two months to complete! Powerful. Stunning.

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The economy is inflating, but so is wealth inequality, all at the expense of the environment.

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images via Kathleen Ryan

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3 Comments

  1. Rachel wrote:

    These are the most amazing art pieces! I love them. Is there any chance this artist would be showing in the San Francisco area?

    11.5.19
    Reply
  2. NIce Bids Work Thanks For Sharing

    2.9.20
    Reply