Bill Rybak American
I think of myself primarily as a builder of stuff--hybrid artifacts that typically fall into the “uncategorized” category. My approach is eclectic, non-linear, sometimes intuitive to the point of unconscious, occasionally obsessive / compulsive. My happy place is that sweet spot between the conceptual and the surreal, or between the ludicrous and the sublime. I also like that spot on a slippery slope right before complexity collapses into chaos, or where devotion shmeers into obsession. Maybe another way to think about it is that grey place (actually I find it quite colorful) between opposites that don’t cancel each other out but rather complete one another.
Bill Rybak is a sculptor, painter and graphic artist. He earned his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, taught at Parsons The New School For Design in New York, is a former board member of the NY Association of Theatrical Artists and Craftspeople, and a former co-operator of the G.A.S. Gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. He has also worked as a design and fabrication consultant, special effects model maker, wood shop foreman, scenic and display carpenter, sculptor and prop maker, colorist, graphic designer, antique restorer and conservator, and custom fabricator. He lives and works in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York.
Selected Exhibits and Installations
Gratitude, Nov,19-Dec. 31, 2021, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY Small Works O-Z, Jun.4-Jul. 18, 2021, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY
Small Works, Apr. 9-May 23 2021, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY
Kingston Annual 20/20, Sept. 5-27, 2020, ay 8-July 11, 2020, ASK Gallery, Kingston, NY Mark Arts Abstract National Exhibition, May 8-July 11, 2020, K.T. Wiedemann Gallery, Wichita, KS
Terrain, Sept. 7-29, 2019, Emerge Gallery, Saugerties NY,
The Wilderstein Biennial, May- October, 2019, Wilderstein Historical Site, Rhinebeck, NY
Revisiting Jerseyscapes, Sept. 6 - October 6, 2019, The Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, New Jersey City University, NJ
Compose to Decompose, July 2019-July 2020, Unison Arts Center, New Paltz, NY Radius 50, Sept.1-Oct. 7, 2018, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY
What’s Next?, eco materialism and contemporary art, July 2018-July 2019, Unison Arts Center, New Paltz, NY
Somewhere Over the Interconnected Rainbow & Prospero’s Grand St Masque, June, 2018, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
InstaSelect at Mark Borghi Fine Arts, Feb.-Mar., 2018, New York, NY
The Art Project, December 2017-December 2018, The Art House, Jersey City, NJ
Big Small, November 2017- February 2018, Victory Hall Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ What’s Next?, October, 2017, Mack Cali Atrium, Harborside Plaza 3, Jersey City, NJ
111 First Street: A Community of Artists, October 2017, 395 Halladay St, #2, Jersey City, NJ
Art of the Heirloom, National Heirloom Expo., Sept., 2017, The Seed Bank, Petaluma, CA
Art as Meditation, Vito A Lofts, Jul.-Sept. 2017,190 Christopher Columbus Dr, Jersey City, NJ Monmouth Museum 38th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Jan.- Mar. 2017, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ-- Juror's Award,
Politics and Power, Oct.-Nov., 2016, Anne Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY
New Directions, Sept..-Oct., 2016, Barret Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
Arte Natura, May 2016, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY
Rover 2016, March, 2016, Excalibur Foundry's Bushwick gallery, Starr Space, Brooklyn, NY
The Church and State Project,(solo) November, 2015, residency and exhibition, C.H.R.C.H. Project Space, Cottekill, NY
Peace and Justice, March 2015, Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge, NY KMOCA Fundraiser, February 2015, Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, Kingston, NY
HudsonValley:ArtoftheHeirloom, Nov.15,2014-Jan.9,2015,NewYorkBotanicalGarden, Bronx, NY
FeastYourEyes:TheArtofFood, Oct.17,2014-Jan.4,2015,AnnmarieSculptureGarden and Art Center, Dowell MD
What’ssoFunny?, May-Jun.,2014,MonmouthMuseum,Monmouth,NJ Multiplicities, Jun.-Aug.,2013,VictoryHallDrawingRooms,JerseyCity,NJ
First Ever KMOCA Fundraiser, February, 2013, Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, Kingston, NY
Art of the Heirloom, 2013, touring Exhibit sponsored by the Hudson Valley Seed Library, NY; Horticultural Society of New York, The Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC, Philadelphia Flower Show and other venues
City of Dreams, (solo) Jun. 7- Jul. 13, 2012, Tomasullo Gallery, Union City College, Cranford, NJ
MACC Invites U, Apr. 14-Jun. 30, 2012, Museum of Art at Casa Colombo, 380 Monmouth Street, Jersey City, NJ
Small Works, December, 2011, Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, Kingston, NY
Pritzker, Rybak, and Young, March, 2011, Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, Kingston, NY
Grande, Feb.-May, 2010, Printmaking Council of New Jersey, 440 River Road, Branchburg NJ 08876
Triple Whammy/Simple Machinery, Feb.-May, 2010, G.A.S. Visual Art and Performance Space, 196 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NY
100 Halos, December, 2009, Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, Kingston, New York Constructions in the Sunken Garden, October, 2009, Mack Cali Atrium, Harborside Plaza 3, Jersey City, NJ
Bridges and the Span of Time, Sept.-Nov., 2009, G.A.S. Visual Art and Performance Space, 196 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NY
G.A.S. Second Anniversary Invitational, August, 2009, G.A.S. Visual Art and Performance Space, 196 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NY
Building Cities, April-May, 2009, Victory Arts Projects at 545 Washington Blvd., Jersey City, NJ Infrastructures and Dreams, (solo) Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009 G.A.S. Visual Art and Performance Space, 196 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NJ
New Works by Bill Rybak, (solo) Oct., 2008, ICBA Inc., 50 Dey Street, Jersey City, NJ
2008 Jersey City Artists Studio Tour, Oct., 2008, Canco Lofts Exhibition Space, 50 Dey Street, Jersey City, NJ
Dynamic Structures, Victory Arts Banner Project, Oct., 2008, 70 Greene Street, 77 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
Open Studio, Jersey City Artists Studio Tour, Oct., 2007, 50 Dey Street, Jersey City, NJ Demolition (a collaborative installation), Sept.-Nov., 2007, "Art Across the Plaza," Sims Carpet Bldg., Jersey City, NJ
Pro Arts Members Exhibition, Sept. 21- Oct. 19, 2007, Artists Studio Tour Anchor Exhibition Space, Canco Lofts, Jersey City, NJ
Works on Paper Jun.-Sept., 2007, Canco Lofts Showroom Exhibition Space, Jersey City, NJ JCAST Kickoff Party Invitational Show, Oct., 2006, Victory Hall, Jersey City, NJ
15th Annual Juried Exhibition, Sept.-Oct., 2006, Art Institute & Gallery, 212 West Main Street, Salisbury MD
A Coney Island of the Mind, Jul.-Aug., 2006, ICAP Securities Inc., Corporate Exhibition Space, Jersey City, NJ
Pro Arts Members' Juried Show, June, 2006, Victory Hall, Jersey City, NJ With Apparent Ease, October, 2005, Victory Hall, Jersey City, NJ
Frames of Mind, October, 2005, Brennan Gallery, Justice William Brennan Courthouse, Jersey City, NJ
Pro Arts Members' Show, Jul.-Aug., 2005, Meagher Rotunda Gallery, City Hall, Jersey City, NJ Annual Show, December, 2004, Focal Point Gallery, City Island, Bronx, NY
One Fine Day, (solo) October 2-3, 2004, Jersey City Art Tour/ 111 First Street, Jersey City, NJ Mixed Bag, April, 2004, Chamot Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
End of Season Show, January, 2004, Chamot Gallery, Jersey City, NJ Annual Show, December, 2003, Focal Point Gallery, City Island, Bronx, NY
Heartland (Installation, solo) Nov. 2003 - July, 2004 , I.C.B.A. Inc. Gallery Space, Jersey City, NJ Real Estate Paintings, (solo) October, 2003, I.C.B.A. Gallery Space, Jersey City, NJ
Convergence, (Installation, solo) 2003, lobby, Metro Nexus Building, 50 Dey Street, Jersey City, NJ
New Kid on the Block, June, 2003, Meagher Rotunda Gallery, City Hall, Jersey City, NJ
Mechanicals, (solo) April, 1986, Shea Studio, 100 East 16th Street, New York, NY
A’s Friends, November/December, 1984, A’s, 330 Broome Street, New York, NY
Out of Place: Art for the Evicted, 1983, various public outdoor locations in the Lower East Side, curated by Political Art Documentation and Distribution, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY
New York Kidney Foundation Benefit Show, September, 1981, Gallery 112 Greene Street, 112 Greene Street, New York, NY
8 1⁄2 x 11, July, 1978, 16 West Hubbard Street Gallery, 16 West Hubbard Street, Chicago, IL Pieces of Roger Moy and Bill Rybak February, 1976, The Sparrow Gallery, 1008 West Armitage Avenue, Chicago, IL
The Banquet Show, Nov., 1973, Wabash Transit Gallery, 219 S. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL Communication in Painting, April, 1972, Dimock Gallery, 21st & H Streets, Washington, D.C.
Collections
Corporate:
Hudson Valley Seed Library, Accord, New York ICBA Inc., Jersey City, New Jersey
Object, Inc. New York, New York
Bushnell Solutions, Jersey City, New Jersey
Private:
Terri Ryan, Dewey Beach Delaware
Matthew and Pamela Klein, New York, New York Peter and Carol Ledger, Detroit, Michigan Patrick and Kari Pagnano, New York, New York Hannah Nadler, New York, New York Camilla Olsen, Palo Alto, California
Kacy Flint, Camarillo , California
Franc Palaia, Rhinebeck, New York