Jupiter presents a focused presentation of new work by Ry Rocklen, in dialogue with paintings by Patrick Walsh, both based in Los Angeles, at Independent New York 2026. While formally distinct, both artists engage processes of accumulation, repetition, and transformation to examine memory, perception, and contemporary material life. Through ceramics, sculpture, and densely worked ink paintings, the presentation brings together two practices that oscillate between humor and psychic intensity, objecthood and illusion, immediacy and duration.
For more than two decades, Rocklen has developed a sculptural language rooted in the conceptual transformation of ordinary objects. The ceramic works presented at Independent use found objects as frameworks through which to view the high desert landscape surrounding his life in Joshua Tree. Rocking chairs, drying racks, televisions, and shopping carts become vessels, windows, and psychological frames, carrying mapped glaze decal images of the desert back onto themselves. Rocklen casts and assembles objects drawn directly from his environment into contained, spatial tableaux that function simultaneously as portraits, containers, and perceptual devices.
Walsh’s intimate ink on panel paintings emerge through accumulations of small square gestures that merge meticulous repetition with improvisational image making. Without a proper studio for the first time in many years, Walsh began working at his family’s dinner table after moving back across the country to help care for his parents. Using wood panels and his father’s office pens, the works developed slowly through sustained acts of drawing that function simultaneously as image, meditation, and record of passing time. Recalling the doodles his mother taught him to make as a child, the paintings oscillate between abstraction and atmosphere, visual noise and moments of monastic stillness. Though labor intensive, the surfaces retain an immediacy that feels both raw and contemplative.
Together, Rocklen and Walsh construct a dialogue between surface and depth, structure and improvisation, memory and material transformation. Though working through radically different visual languages, both artists approach repetition as a way of slowing perception and reorienting attention toward the emotional and psychological residue embedded within ordinary objects, gestures, and accumulated marks.
Ry Rocklen and Patrick Walsh will be on view at Independent New York from May 14 through May 17, 2026 at Pier 36 in booth 507.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Ry Rocklen (b. 1978, Los Angeles, CA) received his BFA from UCLA in 2001 and his MFA from the University of Southern California in 2006. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; Honor Fraser, Los Angeles; Team Gallery, New York; and Praz Delavallade, Paris, among others. Rocklen’s work has been included in major institutional exhibitions including the 2008 Whitney Biennial and Made in L.A. at the Hammer Museum. His work has been covered in publications including The New York Times, Artforum, Frieze, and the Los Angeles Times. He lives and works in Joshua Tree, CA.
Patrick Walsh (b. 1981, Tallahassee, FL) received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005 and his MFA from the University of Southern California in 2012. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Night Gallery, Los Angeles; MOCA Tucson, Tucson, AZ; Martos Gallery, New York; Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin; and the Sarasota Museum at Ringling College, Sarasota, FL. He has also participated in group exhibitions at the De La Cruz Collection, Miami; The Pit, Los Angeles; and Luce Gallery, Turin, among others, including a performance at MoMA PS1 curated by Christopher Lew. His work has been covered in publications including The New York Times, Artforum, and Art Agenda. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Fair Days & Hours
Thursday, May 14 | 11 am - 5 pm (VIP Preview)
Friday, May 15 | 11 am – 7 pm
Saturday, May 16 | 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday, May 17 | 11 am – 6 pm