Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby Exhibited at The Saatchi Gallery

Headless Dick / Deth Till (and 2 details)

Sterling Ruby
Headless Dick/Deth Till (and 2 details)

2008

Formica, wood and spray paint

457.2 x 121.9 x 381 cm

ARCHIVE: PAST WORKS

Sterling Ruby
Kiss Trap Kismet (and 4 details)

2008

PVC pipe, urethane, wood, expanding foam, aluminium, spray paint.

300 x 384 x 122 cm

Sterling Ruby works prolifically in a wide range of mediums, from glazed biomorphic ceramics and poured urethane sculptures, to large-scale spray-painted canvases, nail polish drawings, collages and videos.
Through his varied practice he conducts an assault on materials and social structures, referencing subjects that include marginalised societies, maximum-security prisons, modernist architecture, artefacts and antiquities, graffiti, bodybuilders, the mechanisms of warfare, cults and urban gangs.

Sterling Ruby
Recondite (and 2 details)

2007

PVC pipe, plastic urethane, wood, aluminum, spray paint

13 parts Overall dimensions: 464.8 x 853.4 x 426.7 cm

Monument Stalagmite/Headbanger (2008), Recondite (2007), Kiss Trap Kismet (2008) and the suggestively bloodied Headless Dick/Death Till (2008) are large enough to raise questions around sculpture’s assumed relationship to the human scale. In contrast to the pure conceptual forms of minimalism, Ruby’s messy aesthetic, with its spray marks, dripping paint and worn down edges presents iconoclastic graffitied objects as visceral, organic systems that possess a manmade quality and an allure despite their overt uglyness.

His works are unique hybrids of sources, media, glosses on tradition and autobiographical notation. “Recondite is modelled after a small desktop meditation fountain given to me by my mother. I had just come back from a trip to Germany [where Ruby was born], and I realized this small fountain reminded me of some of the fascist architecture I had just seen. The monument plays a big role in much of my work because it is defined as a structure built for the sole purpose of remembering something that has been lost. I came up with Recondite as a title, as it refers to esoteric or specialized knowledge. I was addressing the way artists of my generation felt trapped by a kind of post-modern burden of ideas, theories, and histories. It seemed impossible to make a sincere gesture anymore. This was my monument to all of that.”

Sterling Ruby
Monument Stalagmite/Headbanger (and 2 details)

2008

PVC pipe, formica, urethane, spray paint and wood

497.8 x 101 x 122 cm

Sterling Ruby
SP58

2008

Acrylic and spray paint on canvas

317.5 x 469.9 cm

Sterling Ruby's Biography

Born in 1972 in Stuttgart, Germany
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011
I AM NOT FREE BECAUSE I CAN BE EXPLODED ANYTIME Sprüth Magers, Berlin
Paintings, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Sterling Ruby, The Pace Gallery, Beijing
Sterling Ruby & Lucio Fontana, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

2010
Metal works Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Sterling Ruby, Metal Works Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Sterling Ruby . Ashtrays Galerie Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels
New works Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
2traps Pace Gallery,New York

2009
Sterling Ruby & Robert Maplethorpe Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
The Masturbators Foxy Production, New York
Sterling Ruby at Rossio Square, Arte 09, Lisbon
Grid Ripper, Bergamo, GAMeC

2008
Spectrum Ripper, Sprϋth Magers, London
Zen Ripper, Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan
Sterling Ruby Supermax, MCA, Museum Of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
KLN Works, New York, Metro Pictures
Chron, The Drawing Room , New York

2008
KILN Works, Metro Pictures, New York
Chron, The Drawing Room, New York

2007
Slasher Posters & Pillow Works, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens
Super Overpass, Foxy Production, New York

2006
Interior Designer, Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles
Recombines, Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan
Supermax 2006, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne, Germany

2005
This Range, Guild & Greyshkul, New York
Adjoining The Voids: Sterling Ruby & Kristen Stoltmann," Sister, Los Angeles
New Work, Foxy Production, New York

2004
Interior Burnout, 1R Gallery, Chicago

2003
Tamper Tantrum / Inanimate Death Magician, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California
Free Association Always Ends Up with Pelvic Mirroring, 1R Gallery, Chicago
The Hydroponic Connection, Suitable Gallery, Chicago

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011
The Shape Of Things To Come: Saatchi Gallery, London
California Dreamin. Myths and Legends of Los Angeles
A.o., Sterling Ruby Almine Rech Gallery, Paris
New York Minute A.o., Sterling Ruby The Garage: Center for Contemporary Culture,Moscow
San Francisco Indie Fest: Offensive! A.o., Sterling Ruby Roxie Cinema, San Francisco
Artprojx Cinema A.o., Sterling Ruby SVA Theatre, New York
Lustwarande
Blemishes A.o., Sterling Ruby Park De Oude Warande, Museum De Pont, Tilburg
Highways Connect and Divide A.o., Sterling Ruby Foxy Production, New York
The Roller Shutter Project A.o., Sterling Ruby The New Museum, New York
Greater L.A. A.o., Sterling Ruby New York, New York
Dystopia A.o., Sterling Ruby Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux
Sterling Ruby A.o., Sterling Ruby Paul Clay, Salon 94, New York

2010
Misericordia A.o., Sterling Ruby Prism Gallery, Los Angeles
50 years at Pace A.o., Sterling Ruby The Pace Gallery, New York
Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960.s A.o., Sterling Ruby San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas
Supernature: An
Exercise in Loads A.o., Sterling Ruby AMP, Athens
Cave Painting A.o., Sterling Ruby Gresham’s Ghost, New York
Suitable Video: Works from the Suitable Exhibitions Archive A.o., Sterling Ruby Western Exhibitions, Chicago
Long live the amorphous law A.o., Sterling Ruby School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
This that & then some A.o., Sterling Ruby Independent, New York
The Quite Edition A.o., Sterling Ruby White Slab Palace, New York
Permanent Trouble A.o., Sterling Ruby, last German Art Forum Gallery, Regensburg
The Transformation Show A.o., Sterling Ruby Gallery 400, Chicago
Psychotrope A.o., Sterling Ruby Institute of Visual Arts (Inova), Univerity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee
Aftermath A.o., Sterling Ruby Taka Ishii Gallery, Kyoto
It.s All American A.o., Sterling Ruby New Jersey Museum of Contemporary Art, Wickatunk

2009
Five A.o., Sterling Ruby, Red October Chocolate Factory, Moscow
Nothingness and Being A.o., Sterling Ruby, Fondación/Colección, Jumex, Mexico City
Modern Mondays: An Evening with Sterling Ruby A.o., Sterling Ruby Museum of Modern Art, New York
Beaufort 03 A.o., Sterling Ruby Art by the Sea, Ostende, Belgium
California Maximalism A.o., Sterling Ruby Nyehaus, New York
In Bed Together A.o., Sterling Ruby Royal/T, Los Angeles

2008
Stray Alchemists, Ullens Center, Bejing
Deitch Projects, New York
Vilma Gold, London

2007
Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers, Munich
D’Amelio Terras, New York
Second Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia
Metro Pictures, New York
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich

2006
Red Eye: L.A. Artists from the Rubell Family Collection, Rubell Family Collection, Miami
Into Black, Western Bridge, Seattle
California Biennial, 2006, Newport Beach, California
Only the Paranoid Survive, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York
Behind the Pedestal, Jonathan Viner, London, United Kingdom

2005
Having New Eyes, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado
T1-Turin Triennial: The Pantagruel Syndrome, GAM Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderne e Contemporanea, Torino, Italy
All the Pretty Corpses, The Renasissance Society at The University of Chicago, Chicago
Voiceovers, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles
Sugartown, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York and Participant Inc., New York
5 X U, Team Gallery, New York
Untitled, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles
Exploding Plastic Inevitable, curated by Scenic, Bergdorf Goodman, New York
Excessive Projections / Projections of Excess," Open Screen CAA: New Media Caucus, Atlanta, Georgia
Resonance, Netherlands Media Art Institute / Montevideo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
GEO, Foxy Production, New York

2004
Face-Off, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
LOOP '04 Video Art Fair & Festival, Associacion Art Barcelona / Barcelo Hotel Sants Barcelona, Spain
Dark Side of the Sun, Wight Gallery / UCLA, Los Angeles
21st Kasseler Documentary Film & Video Festival, Filmladen Kassel, Kassel, Germany
Mystery Blaze in Holiday Cottage, Monya Rowe, New York
Imitations of Life, De Balie Cinema, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Chicago Experimental, Les Musees de Strasbourg – Musee d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
Tapestry from an Asteroid, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
Depression: What is It Good For? Gene Siskel Film Center, ChicagoSignal and Noise Festival 2004, Video In Studios, Vancouver B.C., Canada
Material Eyes, collaboration with Kirsten Stoltmann, Zach Feuer LFL, New York

2003
America Annihilates Consciousness, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, Netherlands
See How The Land Les, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York
When Darkness Falls (Part 2), Midway, Saint Paul, Minnesota
When Darkness Falls, Gallery 400, UIC College of Architecture & Arts, Chicago
Blinky 2, Tate Britian, London, United Kingdom
Red Beats, Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas
Behind the Pedestal, Bower Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
Rethinking Landscape, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Hysterical Pastoral, The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago
Fiction in Video, WORM, Nighttown Theater, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Video Mundi, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
Chicago's Own: New Work by Jennifer Reeder and Sterling Ruby," Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago
Subtle, not so subtle, 1R Gallery, Chicago