After fabricating more than 4,500 nails in Demiurge’s studio to create Will Ryman’s ‘Bird’ and then shipping it to New York’s Paul Kasmin Gallery for his solo show ‘Anyone and No One’, a run of editions are now in the works.  

Fabrication of 2-foot tall 'Bird" edition.Demiurge will create several more editions of ‘Bird’ throughout the year, including a series of the original 12-foot version as well as 6-foot and 2-foot editions.  A few of which will be traveling to China for the Hong Kong International Art Fair, May 17th-20th.

The opening of his “Anyone and No One” exhibit marked a first for Ryman and Paul Kasmin Gallery, as he was the first artist to exhibit in both gallery spaces, located at 293 Tenth Avenue and 515 West 27th Street, simultaneously.

In an interview with White Hot Magazine for a March story, Ryman gives some insight to his style and how the rose along with the use of nails create the artistic contradiction Ryman has become known for.  “Well it’s romance, the elite, sophisticated, but also probably the most recognized flower globally,” said Ryman about the choice of the rose. “My work has always been about contradictions, about absurdism, and the human condition…You take a cold, hard material which references aggression and crucifixion, and I make it almost appear soft, that was my intention.”

Ryman’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at solo shows at 7 World Trade Center, New York; The Saatchi Gallery, London; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York;  and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, among others.  A writer turned artist, Ryman’s work is also heavily influenced by the works of absurdest playwrights and philosophers. He is represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery. 

'Bird' by Will Ryman

The 12-foot tall, 12-foot wide, and 14-foot long ‘Bird’ was shipped to New York last Thursday and installed overnight Wednesday for Will Ryman’s opening of “Anyone and No One,” exhibit, which will run February 16th – March 24th, 2012, at Paul Kasmin Gallery, across both locations of 293 Tenth Avenue & 515 West 27th Street.

Beginning with a nine and a half inch model created by Ryman, Demiurge hand fabricated all of the carbon steel nails and forged them in the studio to create a mill scale finish.  With nails from 8 inches to nearly 5 feet long, ‘Bird’, was completed by Demiurge over three months.

“Great art comes from great partnerships,” said Demiurge owner and founder, Joe Riché, “and we are very fortunate to include Will Ryman and engineering design consultation of KL&A as our artistic partners.”

Image from Demiurge's 3D scanner.With 3D scanners on site, Demiurge can save clients time and money by transferring artists’ maquettes directly into our 3D CAD programs. More than that, our use of 3D technology increases the quality of the finished work on all levels.

Our ability to precisely recreate and refine our artists’ visions and then produce them at any scale has helped Demiurge become a leader in the public art and sculpture production market.

3D technology has enabled the Demiurge team to significantly reduce labor in all areas of sculpture production. For many competing companies, it can take weeks to create drawings for fabricators to work from. Once the concept is complete, Demiurge provides complete concept, construction and structural design, along with photo-realistic renderings.

Demiurge also partners with KL&A Structural Engineers to provide the best materials and methods to maintain the artist's vision at all scales.

Fabrication is complete on a new sculpture by Turkish born, New York artist Osman Akan for the Crime Detection Laboratory in Anchorage, Alaska. The sculpture includes 300 squares of stainless steel and dichroic glass panels that hang from a 20 foot tall brushed stainless steel structure.

From its concave and convex surfaces to the orientation of its structure, the entire artwork is formed by the daily and yearly cycles of the Sun in the particular location of the Alaska Crime Detection Laboratory. Much like the shifting colors of the seasons, the artwork also changes its appearance by reflecting and refracting sunrays, and by the observation angle of its audience.

If you’ve ever been to the Denver Botanic Gardens, you may have seen a similar design growing out of the parking structure’s atrium, Akan’s Albedo, which Demiurge also fabricated and installed in 2010.

Will Ryman's "Icon"Icon was featured among some of the most acclaimed international sculptors such as Thomas Houseago and Claudia Fontes, as well as pieces by Tom Friedman and Kiki Smith at the Frieze Art Fair Sculpture Park, which offers a rare opportunity to see a significant large-scale international work presented in the English Gardens of Regent’s Park.

Like with The Roses, Demiurge fabricated the 32-foot stems of Icon in its Denver studio and then transported them to London for installation, working on site with Momart, a London company with more than 30 years of experience and an international reputation of handling fine art and antiques.

A January 16, 2011, New York Times article said The Roses were a “large scale love letter to New York… transforming Park Avenue into a fanciful garden” and “reflecting Ryman’s flair for the dramatic and absurdly wonderful.”

Prior to London, Demiurge fabricated The Rose for an outdoor installation at The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. and at the Verbier 3D Foundation Sculpture Festival, Verbier, Switzerland.

Next, Ryman and Demiurge will work together in Coral Gables, FL, where Ryman's solo exhibition, Will Ryman: Desublimation of the Rose will be installed at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden starting December 1, 2011 – May 31, 2012, through Art Basel Miami week and a brand new sculpture for Ryman's new series of work to be premiered at his solo exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York.

Site Render Image Courtesy of C&G Partners - New York

All in a day’s work for Demiurge. The challenge was setting the beam at the angle and
location in the building to match the Daniel Libeskind architecture—a complete contradiction
to standard fabrication methods since we could not disrupt the beam due to its historic
significance. The solution: we were able to create a system using the beam's center of gravity to
secure it in place with minimal visual impact of the support system.

The powerful piece of metal will be viewable from the main window of The Counterterrorism
Education Learning Lab (The CELL), attached to the Frederic C Hamilton Building of the Denver
Art Museum by Architect Daniel Libeskind in the next few weeks to commemorate the 10
year anniversary year of 9/11. The World Trade Center artifact is displayed in The CELL’s newly
renovated exhibition.

Demiurge was contracted along with Ship Art Denver http://www.shipart.com to design,
fabricate and install a custom display system to exhibit the relic. Demiurge worked with KL&A
Structural Engineers on structural specifications.

The CELL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution that aims to educate, empower and engage
individuals and organizations to help combat terrorism.

Sit boy! 90,000 stainless steel pet tags twinkle on Sun Spot, a tri-piece artwork created in the Demiurge studios and installed May 23, 2011, on Denver’s new Municipal Animal Shelter at the South Platte Campus.

The main 20-foot tall steel skeleton was created over 3 months, with every tag groomed, cared for and hand-placed like it was the Demiurge family pet.  Designed so the tags flutter in the breeze and twinkle in the sun, the colored by LED lights at night will also bring constant motion and life to this sculpture. 

Demiurge worked closely with artists Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan to translate their vision, beginning with the artist's maquette of the sculpture translated into a three-dimensional computer model, which was then used to cut the structural skeleton.  With time lapse progress recording every day and regular updates, Demiurge ensures artists feel as close to their project as being on site every day.

The warm and friendly silver giant represents “every dog” and was installed by Demiurge in two pieces with cranes.  

Artists:

Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan-- based in Seattle, WA, and who have created more than twenty public art installations throughout the United States.  The artistic duo was won a competition in 2010 for focusing on integrating site-specific art into urban infrastructure.  http://haddad-drugan.com/

Installed September 2009, the colorful, bold artworks symbolize RiNo’s bright future by tapping into Denver’s commerce and culture connection.  The artwork has a five-year anti-graffiti coat. 

Joseph Riché’s sculptural works are often created from salvaged, discarded objects that are considered unusable.  Riché rescues these objects and gives them a renewed life in a new form. 

He owns and operates Demiurge LLC, an art fabrication studio in the RiNo neighborhood.  Riché was selected for this public art commission by a panel of community members, artists and arts representatives.