A brush with... Veronica Ryan

A brush with... Veronica Ryan

From A brush with... by The Art Newspaper

February 25, 2026 · 1h 6m · Season 32 · Episode 3

About this episode

Veronica Ryan discusses her artistic influences and the cultural experiences that shape her work.

Veronica Ryan talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Ryan was born in 1956 in Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat and came to the UK as an infant. She now lives between London and New York. She explores personal, collective and historical memory through a range of sculptural materials and processes. Her installations and individual sculptures combine a wealth of things and techniques, often all at once, from found objects to time-honoured sculptural materials like bronze and marble; and from carving to casting and crocheting. Colour plays a vital role in her work, in the varied hues of textiles or plaster. And she creates forms as diverse as seeds and fruits, mats and nets, pillows and blankets and architectural structures. Through arresting and often multilayered arrangements, she evokes the minutiae of everyday experience (often with a profoundly personal meaning), makes reference to resonant historical events and their legacies, and addresses major human themes and rites of passage. She reflects on the meanings embedded in her materials, her…

People in this episode

Host: Ben Luke

Guest: Veronica Ryan

Topics covered

  • sculpture
  • memory
  • cultural influences
  • artistic process
  • personal experience

Keywords

  • sculpture
  • memory
  • art influences
  • textiles
  • installation art
  • Eva Hesse
  • Louise Bourgeois

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois

Places: Montserrat, London, New York

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