page_title: Sterling Ruby
section_title: Work
hierarchical_section_title: Sterling Ruby / Work
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of SP181. A painting by the artist Sterling Ruby.
context_page_description: Sterling Ruby is an American artist who works in a large variety of media including ceramics, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, video, and textiles. Often, his work is presented in large and densely packed installations. The artist has cited a diverse range of sources and influences including aberrant psychologies, urban gangs and graffiti, hip-hop culture, craft, punk, masculinity, violence, public art, prisons, globalization, American domination and decline, waste and consumption. In opposition to the minimalist artistic tradition and influenced by the ubiquity of urban graffiti, the artist's works often appear scratched, defaced, camouflaged, dirty, or splattered. Proclaimed as one of the most interesting artists to emerge this century by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, Ruby's work examines the psychological space where individual expression confronts social constraint. Sterling Ruby currently lives and works in Los Angeles. His studio is located in Vernon, south of downtown Los Angeles.
context_section_description: Collage
  Collage plays a significant role in the artist's prolific and interdisciplinary practice. Formal and thematic concerns are reflected by an exhaustive range of subject matter which is developed over the course of a number of years. The titles of the collage series include Mapping, DRFTRS, TRANSCOMPOSITIONAL, SPCE, EXHM, and BC. The artist has described collage as an "illicit merger", suggesting a transgressive nature for the medium.
  EXHM
  In the series EXHM, titled with the artist's invented abbreviation for the word exhumation, The artist repurposes the large cardboard pieces used to protect the studio floor from the urethane that is poured during the creation of his urethane sculptures. Cutting into the cardboard and rearranging formal compositions he finalizes the works by inserting pictures of burial grounds, prescription packages and other found images as a way of creating an autobiographical archeology or dig site.
  BC
  His bleached denim and canvas collages are titled BC which refers simply to Bleach Collage, but also references the art historical dating reference BC (Before Christ) or BCE (Before the Common Era).
  For this series of works, the artist repurposes rags, fabric scraps, clothing, and denim that have personal as well as studio history. These patchwork collages are playful, almost pop-like, resembling the craft of quilt making. These works reference the utilitarian beauty of Gee's Bend quilts as well as Japanese Boro textiles.
  ECLPSE
  The ECLPSE collages are made from cardboard salvaged from the floor coverings in the artist's studio. The shapes are reminiscent of suns, moons and overlapping landscapes, are painted in bright, primary colors. Ruby has said of these compositions: 'They continue with themes, theories and concepts that have been central to my previous work, but I have been trying to make them abstract and formal, my attempt to connect to the historical lineage of Suprematism.'
  SCALES
  SCALES are constructed mobiles. These works, which the artist views as three-dimensional manifestations of his collages, feature identical monochrome shapes to those evident in the ECLPSE series. These cardboard shapes are juxtaposed with identifiable scraps of materials and objects from his studio.
  Bronzes
  Ruby's large bronze sculptures are generally poured in smaller sections, which he then joins together in an almost quilt-like fashion. Traditionally, bronze casting foundries grind the joining welds out of the final sculpture to hide this step in the fabrication process. For his large bronze sculptures, Ruby forgoes grinding the welds, which retain a rainbow patina.
  Stoves
  In 2012, a series of fully functional stoves of the artist's own design were produced. These stoves, executed in bronze, cast iron or steel, were based on the kind of cast iron pot-belly stoves found in farm houses. There is an autobiographical element to these works, as the artist grew up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, that for a time was heated only by a wood-burning stove. The Stoves highlight Ruby's interest in themes of functionality and utilitarianism.
  In 2013, the artist installed the 17-foot tall STOVE in a public square in Basel, Switzerland as part of Parcours, Art Basel. The stove was lit at the beginning of the fair, and a fire was maintained in the stove during the run of the fair.
  A second series of four large scale stoves were exhibited as part of the 2015 Gwangju Biennial in Gwangju Korea. The stoves which stood about 17 feet high were installed at the entrance to the exhibition. A fire was maintained in the Stove during the run of the biennial.
  In the fall of 2015, a set of four large black stoves was installed in the courtyard of the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris, France.
  Soft Sculptures
  The artist's soft sculptures, made from fabric stuffed with fiber fill, take many forms. The artist has presented large vampire mouths and double vampire mouths with fabric blood drops that hang from their fabric teeth. Other forms include "husbands" modeled on a particular pillow shape that is sold commercially, and lay
caption: SP181 Sterling Ruby, 2011
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