The exhibition will celebrate the work of the British artist and will be displayed from the 1st April until the 14th June 2026.
Along a Spectrum, (2021)
Installation view, Spike Island, Bristol Courtesy of Alison Jacques
Photo Lisa Whiting
It has been announced that the Whitechapel Gallery will present a major exhibition dedicated to the award-winning British artist Veronica Ryan next April.
Featuring more than 100 works, Veronica Ryan: Multiple Conversations will draw on every aspect of her work across sculpture, textiles and works on paper. It will also include recently rediscovered works from the 1980s – large-scale sculptures made from plaster and beaten lead, as well as vivid drawings – which reveal enduring artistic interests across her career.
The exhibition will begin in Whitechapel Gallery’s largest exhibition space (Gallery 1) with Ryan’s most recent works, including several newly conceived for this presentation. Meanwhile, running the entire length of the gallery will be a shelf featuring a selection of works including Multiple Conversations (2019–present), the series from which the exhibition takes its title.
At the back of the space are a series of works incorporating warehouse racking. Among them is Particles (2017), which features plaster casts and cushions that Ryan has arranged on each shelf.
Upstairs in Gallery 2 will be a selection of the many drawings, photo-collages and other works on paper that Ryan has developed alongside her sculptural practice, and which reveal recurring preoccupations. Opening Gallery 3 are works which exemplify Ryan’s ongoing engagement with her birthplace of Montserrat, including a series of gouache and pastel drawings which depict the aftermath of the devastating Soufrière Hills volcanic eruption on the island in the 1990s.
The final sections of the exhibition will bring together the artist’s earliest works, which reflect her broader engagement with histories of sculpture.
Overall, this show will bring four decades worth of work that defies any singular or linear narrative, while weaving together environmental concerns, personal narratives, as well as the psychological implications of history, trauma and recovery.
For more information visit: https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/veronica-ryan-multiple-conversations/