Joshua Liner Gallery

Biography

Evelyn Rydz creates detailed drawings based on her photographs from various coastlines of lost and discarded objects that have washed ashore. She is interested in the stories these found objects tell of relocation, transformation and the suggestions of past events that have made them castaways in foreign landscapes. Focused on the narratives and journeys these found objects have undergone, Rydz explores the history and possible interconnection between these displaced objects. Working from both observation and imagination, the drawings are based on adaptation, possibilities of new environments, and questions of how future landscapes will evolve.

Evelyn Rydz received an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in affiliation with Tufts University in 2005 and a BFA from Florida State University in 2001. Her work was most recently included in the 2010 James and Audrey Foster Prize Exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. She received a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Drawing. Rydz has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, with shows in Boston, New York, Miami, Berlin, Barranquilla, and Bogota. She was the 2006 Community Arts Initiative Visiting Artist at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where she designed and led the Blueprint Voyage Project. She has participated in panels and lectures as visiting artist at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the University of Massachusetts, The Fine Arts Work Center, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Wellesley College. Rydz has led community art projects at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami. Rydz is Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Artist Statement

Over the last few years I have been making regular visits to coastlines to document objects that have washed ashore. I am interested in the stories these found objects tell of relocation, transformation, and the suggestions of past events that have made them castaways in foreign landscapes. Inspired by my coastal visits, the Castaways drawings, chart washed ashore objects that have been lost, abandoned, or possibly defeated at sea. I am intrigued by how these objects come together and become camouflaged in their new environments: a yellow rope tangled with seaweed, a piece of bright blue insulation foam covered with barnacles, a rusted beer can swarming with crabs.

A main component of my work is in exploring the details, the core elements that make something up, and which contain endless information about its past. This catalog of flotsam is drawn from an intimate eyelevel perspective with the found object; the sea is a faint line in the distance. The drawings focus on each detail of the found object, including its texture, altered surface, color, and size, giving them unique identities, while the settings are minimal black and white summaries of the space. My aim is to create a space that explores the history and possible interconnection between these displaced objects; leaving viewers to construct their own narrative and journey.

Evelyn Rydz Artist Statement for Castaways, 2011