Bartholomew Ryan Named Andy Warhol Museum's Milton Fine Curator of Art

The Andy Warhol Museum has appointed Bartholomew Ryan as its Milton Fine Curator of Art. Ryan was previously an assistant curator at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, where he began as a curatorial fellow. Ryan assumes his role at The Warhol on May 18.

Ryan holds a Master of Arts degree from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, and he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama and theatre studies from Trinity College Dublin. During his tenure at the Walker, he curated numerous acclaimed exhibitions, including International Pop, co-curated with Darsie Alexander, which opened April 11, 2015, at the Walker. The exhibition shows how popular culture and the mass media fueled artists' imaginations around the world from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. Its scholarship places Ryan in a position at The Warhol to further contextualize Andy Warhol and his place in global art history.

"The entire team at The Warhol is thrilled to welcome Bartholomew Ryan to The Warhol family and to Pittsburgh," says Eric Shiner, The Warhol's director. "Bartholomew is one of the most dynamic young curators in America today, and his exhibition record and deep working relationships with some of today's most compelling artists make him a perfect fit for The Warhol. Bartholomew also has a great track record working with and supporting local artists-something incredibly important to us in Pittsburgh-and his upbeat personality and curious mind will greatly complement our work at the museum."

Additional recent curatorial projects include the performance, visual art, and music hybrid Scaffold Room, by artist and choreographer Ralph Lemon, which premiered at the Walker in 2014, co-curated with Philip Bither and Doug Benidt. In 2013 he curated the international group exhibition 9 Artists, which considered the role of the artist in contemporary culture and featured the work of Yael Bartana, Liam Gillick, Renzo Martens, Bjarne Melgaard, Nastio Mosquito, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Hito Steyerl, and Danh Vo. Also in 2013 he co-curated Painter Painter, which explored contemporary approaches to abstract painting. Ryan organized the Walker's presentation of the 2012 traveling exhibition This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s. In 2011 he co-curated two intensive residency projects and exhibitions, Goshka Macuga: It Broke from Within, and Pedro Reyes's Baby Marx. In addition to curating exhibitions, Ryan has contributed to various international art publications.

"I am tremendously excited to take up this position at The Warhol," says Bartholomew Ryan. "I am looking forward to working with contemporary artists whose approaches I believe will resonate in fascinating ways at The Warhol, and to engaging the museum's extraordinary collection. I am delighted to be joining talented colleagues and to have the opportunity to live in Pittsburgh and get to know its artistic community."

The appointment of Ryan to The Warhol curatorial staff strengthens our commitment to building a strong new leadership team at The Warhol, filling vacant positions and redefining some existing roles to continue the museum's innovative development of programs and initiatives to extend Andy Warhol's impact around the world.

Photo by Gene Pittman