New York-based artist Matthew Ronay creates hybrid forms that exist between a primordial and futuristic state, which seek to explore ritualistic habits and the relationship between human bodies and the world we inhabit. New York-based artist Matthew Ronay was born in 1976 in Louisville, Kentucky, and studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art before earning his Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University in 2000. Ronay creates hybrid forms that exist between a primordial and futuristic state, which seek to explore ritualistic habits and the relationship between human bodies and the world we inhabit. His hand-crafted, colorful configurations embody our corporeal struggle, reminding us of the power of objects beyond material culture and mass production. Drawing on traditions of folk and pre-avant-garde art, as well as surrealism, mythology, and psychedelia, Ronay has developed a distinct artistic style that draws viewers in with its playfulness and then unveils a deeper, more multidimensional reality.
Ronay has exhibited at institutions including Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany; University of Louisville, Kentucky; Artspace, San Antonio, Texas; Serpentine Gallery, London; Sculpture Center, New York; Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky; and Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London. Ronay participated in the 2013 Lyon Biennale, curated by Gunnar Kvaran, and the 2004 Whitney Biennial. In 2016, his work was the subject of solo-presentations at the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, Texas and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida. In 2022, his work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas.
