Ursula von Rydingsvard builds structure from units designed to be replaceable.
Industrial cedar beams—cut for utility and repetition—are stacked and carved into mass.
Accumulation produces weight rather than ornament.
Surface records labor; form emerges through compression.
Endurance is constructed from what was meant to disappear.
Von Rydingsvard begins with cedar beams cut to similar dimensions. She stacks them, compresses them, fastens them together. At first glance the repetition reads as surface—rows, ridges, carved marks—but the more you look, the clearer it becomes that the repetition is carrying weight. Each beam is part of a larger mass. Nothing is applied after the fact.
She carves into the accumulated stack, not to decorate it but to expose how it holds. The surface is a record of pressure and removal. What feels textured is structural. What feels expressive is load-bearing.
In her work, repetition does not embellish form. It builds it.
1. Portrait of Ursula von Rydingsvard with an in-progress sculpture. Photo © Alex John. Courtesy Artsy.
2. Ursula von Rydingsvard in her studio, 1992. Photo © Allen Rokach.
3. Ursula von Rydingsvard in her Spring Street loft, New York City. Photo credit unknown.
4. Ursula von Rydingsvard applying graphite through perforated plastic on For Staś (2011–17). Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. Photo © Morgan Daly.
5. Installation view: Ursula von Rydingsvard: The Contour of Feeling. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.
6. Portrait of Ursula von Rydingsvard with an in-progress sculpture. Photo © Alex John Beck. Courtesy Artsy.
7. Ursula von Rydingsvard, Ocean Voices, 2011–12. Cedar and graphite, 53 × 185 × 67 in. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong, New York.
8. Ursula von Rydingsvard, Untitled (nine cones), 1976. Cedar, 42 × 180 × 156 in. Installation view, Nothing but Art, Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, 2021. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co.
9. Ursula von Rydingsvard, Zakopane, 1987. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard.
10. Ursula von Rydingsvard in her studio with assembled cedar components of Katul Katul (1999–2002). Photo © Jerry L. Thompson. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York.
11. Installation view: Ursula von Rydingsvard: LUBA (2022), Galerie Lelong & Co., New York. Photo © Joshua Simpson. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard.
12. Ursula von Rydingsvard, Pierwsza, 2012–14. Cedar and graphite. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Lelong, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo © Jonty Wilde.
Cover: Ursula von Rydingsvard, Ocean Voices, 2011–12. Cedar and graphite, 53 × 185 × 67 in. Artwork © Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong, New York.
Portrait: Ursula von Rydingsvard in her Brooklyn studio, 1997. Photo © Allen Rokach.
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