What Remains, What Rises

Press Release

Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present What Remains, What Rises, a project space exhibition by New York-based artist Ryan Cosbert.

What Remains, What Rises introduces a series of new paintings which meditate on memory, history, and transformation. Prompted by Cosbert’s examination of the African diaspora and resulting legacies, she reflects on the stories, traditions, and culture that have endured through the subjugation and oppression of Black communities. Scaffolding swaths of color, the artist explores the material properties of paint— pigmentation, viscosity, and mark— in a balanced interplay of control and chance. Through accumulated layers of pigment, Cosbert creates dense compositions teeming with visceral tactility and symbolism, unfolding deeply personal narratives while forging a socio-political consciousness in abstraction.

In the diptych 'Epigentics No.7' Anguish and Distress, Cosbert alludes to the impacts of multi-generational trauma through trait expressions in DNA. For the artist, these inherited experiences hold the weight of oppression as well as the strength of survival, discerning a cyclical tension between the loss and renewal of identity. Works such as An Ode to Annie Easley are an homage to influential Black figures, instilling a historical reverence and providing an opportunity for reclamation, rising from the resilience of those who came before.


Ryan Cosbert (b. 1999, Brooklyn, NY) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY in 2021. Her solo and two-person exhibitions include Luce Gallery, Turin, Italy (2023, 2022); UTA Artist Space, Atlanta, GA (2022); Undercurrent Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2021); Mehari Sequar Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2021) with group exhibitions at Luce Gallery, Turin, Italy (2024); Bode, Berlin, Germany (2023, 2022, 2021); Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris, France (2023); PM/AM, London, UK (2022); Bloom Galerie, Geneva, Switzerland (2022); Swivel Gallery, Saugerties, NY (2022, 2021). Cosbert was recognized as a Barnes Foundation Scholarship Grantee in 2021.