Sterling Ruby
“New Works”
18 September – 16 October, 2010
Opening reception: Saturday, 18 September, 18:00 – 20:00

Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce our first exhibition with Los Angeles based artist Sterling Ruby.
For his show at Taka Ishii Gallery the artist is presenting a series of arrays, or variations on a theme.
Throughout his practice the artist has confronted ideas of containment and liberation. Subverting both hismaterials and content, he forges work all the more intriguing by its often unexpected beauty.

These new groupings will include hand wrought bronzes on pedestals, framed collages on bright orange
paper, soft-sculptures of vampire mouths, and square spatial vortexes made from the artist’s signature
bleached fabric. The artist has cited the craft of quilt making as a visual cue for the repetitive, mimetic
structure of this installation. The linear, geometric hanging of the show seeks to reiterate the repetitive
patterns contained within each of the groupings.

Additionally, the works presented make use of the

combination of more traditional art making materials in the bronzes and collages, versus the domesticatedor craft materials of the soft sculpture mouths and the square wall works.

In the set of collages entitled HEAD TREKKERS images of deep space are juxtaposed with human skulls
similar to planets. These collaged arrangements conjure up visions of spatial head tripping and inevitable
death. The SOFT VORTEX works also have a cosmic depiction, resembling a post-Minimalist tapestry
lamenting the awareness of the void.

The bronze sculptures relate closely to Ruby’s ceramic series,

similarly they take on the psychology of art therapy projects and become monuments to a prior malleability.
The last in the series of works are the VAMPIRES, fiber free-floating mouths with dripping fangs. Thesegaping oral cavities push Ruby’s interest in consumption and continue his proposal that art is a cyclicalattempt at liberation.

An MFA graduate of the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Ruby has exhibited extensivelyinternationally. Recent solo and group exhibitions include, “New Photography” at the Museum of Modern Art,
New York (2009), “Grid Ripper” at Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy (2008), “StrayAlchemist” at the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art, Beijing (2008), and “Supermax 2008” at the Museumof Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, (2008). In 2009, Ruby designed the Tokyo boutique of Belgian fashion
designer Raf Simons and later collaborated with Simons on a line of denim-wear.

From July throughOctober of 2010, Ruby’s work will be featured as part of the Setouchi Art Festival on the island of Megijima,
Japan. In 2011, he will have a solo exhibition at The Pace Gallery, Beijing, China.

Sterling Ruby artist talk event
artist Sterling Ruby in (bilingual) conversation with critic Kentaro Ichiharathdate : September 18 from 4:30 - 5:30pm
no entry fee / no reserved seating

Sterling Ruby new publication:
CERAMICS 2007-2010
Published by Taka Ishii Gallery (2010), Limited edition, soft cover, essay by Kentaro Ichihara
available at the talk event.

For further information please contact:
Press: Takayuki Mashiyama
1-3-2-5F Kiyosumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0024
tel : 81-3-5646-6050

fax : 81-3-3642-3067

www.takaishiigallery.com

e-mail : tig@takaishiigallery.com

Tue-Sat 12-19pm

Sterling Ruby
HEARTTHROB EXHAUST, 2010Bronze
40.6 H x 38.1 W x 20.3 D cm / 16 x 15 x 8 inches

Sterling Ruby
HEADTREKKERS 2, 2010
Collage on orange paper
96.5 H x 63.5 W cm / 38 x 25 inches

Sterling Ruby
Vampire 9, 2010
Fabric with fiber fill
213.4 H x 114.3 W x 10.2 D cm / 84 x 45 x 4 inches

Sterling Ruby
SOFT VORTEX (6 DEEP), 2010
(Detail, 3 of 6)
Fabric with fiber fill
152.4 H x 152.4 W x7.6 D cm (each) / 60 x 60 x 3 inches (each)