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Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, WIDW. HELIOS (7058)., 2019 Acrylic, oil, elastic, cardboard, and treated fabric on canvas, framed: 73 ¾ × 53 ¾ × 3 ¼ inches (187.3 × 136.5 × 8.3 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, WIDW. HELIOS (7058)., 2019

Acrylic, oil, elastic, cardboard, and treated fabric on canvas, framed: 73 ¾ × 53 ¾ × 3 ¼ inches (187.3 × 136.5 × 8.3 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, HEART (6709), 2018 Ceramic, 20 ½ × 14 × 2 inches (52.1 × 35.6 × 5.1 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, HEART (6709), 2018

Ceramic, 20 ½ × 14 × 2 inches (52.1 × 35.6 × 5.1 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/FERRYDUST, 2018 Clear urethane block, dye, wood, spray paint, and laminate, 40 ½ × 25 × 12 inches (102.9 × 63.5 × 30.5 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/FERRYDUST, 2018

Clear urethane block, dye, wood, spray paint, and laminate, 40 ½ × 25 × 12 inches (102.9 × 63.5 × 30.5 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Basin Theology/STYX BOAT, 2017 Ceramic, 26 × 46 × 74 inches (66 × 116.8 × 188 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Basin Theology/STYX BOAT, 2017

Ceramic, 26 × 46 × 74 inches (66 × 116.8 × 188 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, HOT FLAT LIGHT, 2017 Acrylic, oil, elastic, and cardboard on canvas, framed: 59 × 45 ½ inches (149.9 × 115.6 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, HOT FLAT LIGHT, 2017

Acrylic, oil, elastic, and cardboard on canvas, framed: 59 × 45 ½ inches (149.9 × 115.6 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: STOVES, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, October 21, 2015–February 14, 2016 Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: STOVES, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, October 21, 2015–February 14, 2016

Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, DEEP FLAG (5532), 2015 Bleached fleece and elastic, 174 ½ × 316 inches (443.2 × 802.6 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, DEEP FLAG (5532), 2015

Bleached fleece and elastic, 174 ½ × 316 inches (443.2 × 802.6 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, DRAG (BANKER), 2015 Steel, engine blocks, and paint, 51 ½ × 145 × 74 ¼ inches (130.8 × 368.3 × 188.6 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, DRAG (BANKER), 2015

Steel, engine blocks, and paint, 51 ½ × 145 × 74 ¼ inches (130.8 × 368.3 × 188.6 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SP288, 2014 Spray paint on synthetic canvas, 96 × 84 inches (243.8 × 213.4 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SP288, 2014

Spray paint on synthetic canvas, 96 × 84 inches (243.8 × 213.4 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, FLAG (4791), 2014 Bleached and dyed canvas, denim, and elastic, 174 ½ × 343 inches (443.2 × 871.2 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, FLAG (4791), 2014

Bleached and dyed canvas, denim, and elastic, 174 ½ × 343 inches (443.2 × 871.2 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, The Cup, 2013 Foam, urethane, wood, and spray paint, 92 × 115 ½ × 88 inches (233.7 × 293.4 × 223.5 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, The Cup, 2013

Foam, urethane, wood, and spray paint, 92 × 115 ½ × 88 inches (233.7 × 293.4 × 223.5 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SCALE (4586), 2013 Steel, paint, cardboard, yarn, and mixed media, 97 × 75 × 70 inches (246.4 × 190.5 × 177.8 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SCALE (4586), 2013

Steel, paint, cardboard, yarn, and mixed media, 97 × 75 × 70 inches (246.4 × 190.5 × 177.8 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Stove 3, 2013 Stainless steel, 54 ¾ × 14 × 33 inches (139.1 × 35.6 × 83.8 cm), edition of 6 + 2 AP© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Stove 3, 2013

Stainless steel, 54 ¾ × 14 × 33 inches (139.1 × 35.6 × 83.8 cm), edition of 6 + 2 AP
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, EXHM (3916), 2012 Collage, paint, and urethane on cardboard, 98 × 97 inches (248.9 × 246.4 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, EXHM (3916), 2012

Collage, paint, and urethane on cardboard, 98 × 97 inches (248.9 × 246.4 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SCXV3ST/BD, 2012 Fiberglass, wood, spray paint, and formica, in 2 parts, drop: 84 × 19 × 19 inches (213.4 × 48.3 × 48.3 cm), pedestal: 36 × 34 × 34 inches (91.4 × 86.4 × 86.4 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SCXV3ST/BD, 2012

Fiberglass, wood, spray paint, and formica, in 2 parts, drop: 84 × 19 × 19 inches (213.4 × 48.3 × 48.3 cm), pedestal: 36 × 34 × 34 inches (91.4 × 86.4 × 86.4 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, CDCR, 2011 PVC pipe, foam, urethane, wood, and spray paint, 64 × 240 × 66 ½ inches (162.6 × 609.6 × 168.9 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, CDCR, 2011

PVC pipe, foam, urethane, wood, and spray paint, 64 × 240 × 66 ½ inches (162.6 × 609.6 × 168.9 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, VAMPIRE 47, 2011 Fabric and fiberfill, 84 × 45 × 4 inches (213.4 × 114.3 × 10.2 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, VAMPIRE 47, 2011

Fabric and fiberfill, 84 × 45 × 4 inches (213.4 × 114.3 × 10.2 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SP137, 2010 Spray paint on canvas, 125 × 185 inches (317.5 × 469.9 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, SP137, 2010

Spray paint on canvas, 125 × 185 inches (317.5 × 469.9 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Brass Ketamine User, 2010 Ceramic, 15 × 27 × 14 inches (38.1 × 68.6 × 35.6 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Brass Ketamine User, 2010

Ceramic, 15 × 27 × 14 inches (38.1 × 68.6 × 35.6 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/KKDETHZ, 2009 Clear urethane block, dye, wood, spray paint, and formica, in 2 parts, overall: 60 ½ × 62 ½ × 34 inches (153.7 × 158.8 × 86.4 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/KKDETHZ, 2009

Clear urethane block, dye, wood, spray paint, and formica, in 2 parts, overall: 60 ½ × 62 ½ × 34 inches (153.7 × 158.8 × 86.4 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Big Grid/DB Deth, 2008 Formica, spray paint, and wood, 84 × 84 × 36 inches (213.4 × 213.4 × 91.4 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Big Grid/DB Deth, 2008

Formica, spray paint, and wood, 84 × 84 × 36 inches (213.4 × 213.4 × 91.4 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Balanced Stack of Pottery and Knife, 2005 Collage on paper, 28 × 22 ½ inches (71.1 × 57.2 cm)© Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, Balanced Stack of Pottery and Knife, 2005

Collage on paper, 28 × 22 ½ inches (71.1 × 57.2 cm)
© Sterling Ruby

About

Sterling Ruby’s work engages with issues related to autobiography, art history, and the violence and pressures within society. Employing diverse aesthetic strategies and mediums—including sculpture, drawing, collage, ceramics, painting, and video—he examines the tensions between fluidity and stasis, Expressionism and Minimalism, the abject and the pristine.

Born on Bitburg Air Base, Germany, to an American father and a Dutch mother, Ruby moved at a young age to the United States, where he grew up on a farm in southeastern Pennsylvania. There he encountered Amish quilt-making and Pennsylvania redware pottery, both of which directly inspired his initial forays into garment-making, soft sculpture, and ceramics. Ruby graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Lancaster, in 1996. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002, followed by an MFA from the ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, in 2005.

Living and working in Los Angeles, Ruby draws endless inspiration from the city’s physical and conceptual landscape. A subseries of the SP paintings (2007–14), the VIVIDS (2014), are electric color fields inspired by the shifting, multihued skies that he encounters on his way to the studio, while the SUBMARINE (2015) and TABLES (2015 –19) series were created from hulking industrial parts sourced nearby. Ruby’s work often deals with the ways in which acts of defacement, like urban demarcation and graffiti, can produce a painterly sublime. Both in his YARD paintings (2015–16) and in his WIDW paintings (2016–), he taps into the speed and motion of collage, incorporating bleached fabric and cardboard scraps and combining abstract color fields with fragments of studio refuse. Continually pushing the boundaries between artistic mediums, Ruby launched a ready-to-wear clothing line in 2019.

Sterling Ruby: The Frenetic Beat

Sterling Ruby: The Frenetic Beat

Ester Coen meditates on the dynamism of Sterling Ruby’s recent projects, tracing parallels between these works and the histories of Futurism, Constructivism, and the avant-garde.

Sterling Ruby studio

Sterling Ruby: TURBINES

Join Sterling Ruby in his Los Angeles studio as he works on new abstract paintings ahead of his exhibition TURBINES at Gagosian in New York.

Augurs of Spring

Augurs of Spring

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, Sydney Stutterheim reflects on the iconography and symbolism of the season in art both past and present.

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/OSIRIS-REx, 2016 (detail).

Sterling Ruby: Disjointed Monuments to Nothing

Alessandro Rabottini investigates the theoretical and formal underpinnings of Sterling Ruby’s career through the lens of the artist’s series ACTS.

The cover of the Fall 2019 Gagosian Quarterly magazine. Artwork by Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Fall 2019

The Fall 2019 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring a detail from Sinking (2019) by Nathaniel Mary Quinn on its cover.

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Notre-Dame), 2019.

For Notre-Dame

An exhibition at Gagosian, Paris, is raising funds to aid in the reconstruction of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris following the devastating fire of April 2019. Gagosian directors Serena Cattaneo Adorno and Jean-Olivier Després spoke to Jennifer Knox White about the generous response of artists and others, and what the restoration of this iconic structure means across the world.

Sterling Ruby: Bloody Pots

Sterling Ruby: Bloody Pots

Ceramics expert Garth Clark explores Sterling Ruby’s practice in the medium, addressing the work’s allegiances and divergences from tradition.

Gagosian Quarterly Winter 2018

Gagosian Quarterly Winter 2018

The Winter 2018 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available. Our cover this issue comes from High Times, a new body of work by Richard Prince.

Installation view, Sterling Ruby, Winterpalais, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, July 8–October 16, 2016.

Sterling Ruby: Winterpalais, Vienna

Mario Codognato, curator of the exhibition, discusses Sterling Ruby’s first-ever European survey, at the Belvedere’s Winterpalais galleries.

Fairs, Events & Announcements

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: SPECTERS TOKYO, Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo, November 23–December 23, 2023. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Kenji Takahashi, courtesy Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo

Public Installation

Sterling Ruby
SPECTERS TOKYO

November 23–December 23, 2023
Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo
www.sogetsu.or.jp

In SPECTERS TOKYO, Sterling Ruby’s first public installation in Japan, the artist creates a dialogue with Isamu Noguchi’s indoor stone garden Heaven (1977–78), which is permanently installed in the lobby of the Sogetsu Foundation headquarters. Exploring the interactions between the living and the dead, Ruby’s site-specific work draws influence from kaidan, a genre of Japanese ghost stories. The otherworldly scene includes spectral figures made from heavily worn, tattered textiles and found objects that are suspended from the ceiling like puppets.

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: SPECTERS TOKYO, Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo, November 23–December 23, 2023. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Kenji Takahashi, courtesy Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo

Gagosian’s booth at Taipei Dangdai 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Mark Grotjahn; © Zeng Fanzhi; © 2023 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Ringo Cheung

Art Fair

Taipei Dangdai 2023

May 12–14, 2023, booth E10
Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center
taipeidangdai.com

Gagosian is pleased to participate in Taipei Dangdai 2023, presenting works by Louise Bonnet, Dan Colen, Edmund de Waal, Urs Fischer, Cy Gavin, Nan Goldin, Katharina Grosse, Mark Grotjahn, Damien Hirst, Thomas Houseago, Yayoi Kusama, Deana Lawson, Takashi Murakami, Sterling Ruby, Alexandria Smith, Spencer Sweeney, Kon Trubkovich, Mary Weatherford, Cameron Welch, Anna Weyant, and Zeng Fanzhi.

Gagosian’s booth at Taipei Dangdai 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Mark Grotjahn; © Zeng Fanzhi; © 2023 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Ringo Cheung

Gagosian’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Gerhard Richter; © Amoako Boafo; © Richard Prince; © 2022 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation; © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Stanley Whitney. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

Art Fair

Art Basel Miami Beach 2022

December 1–3, 2022, booth D5
Miami Beach Convention Center
artbasel.com

Gagosian is pleased to present a selection of modern and contemporary works at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. Returning to Miami for the fair’s twentieth anniversary, the gallery is honored to have participated each year the fair has been held.

Gagosian’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Gerhard Richter; © Amoako Boafo; © Richard Prince; © 2022 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation; © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Stanley Whitney. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

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Museum Exhibitions

Chris Burden, Kunst Kick (3 photographs and text), 1974 (detail), The Warehouse, Dallas © 2024 Chris Burden/Licensed by the Chris Burden Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: courtesy Chris Burden Estate

On View

For What It’s Worth
Value Systems in Art since 1960

Through June 29, 2024
The Warehouse, Dallas
thewarehousedallas.org

Looking at global, conceptual art tendencies since 1960, For What It’s Worth focuses on artists who generate, question, and infect value systems through their work. These systems might address exchange, social structures, or philosophical intangibles, and many of the selected works share an exploration of the codification of values through language and patterns of behavior. Work by Chris Burden and Sterling Ruby is included.

Chris Burden, Kunst Kick (3 photographs and text), 1974 (detail), The Warehouse, Dallas © 2024 Chris Burden/Licensed by the Chris Burden Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: courtesy Chris Burden Estate

Installation view, Un patrimoine méconnu. Tableaux du diocèse de Paris du XVe au XXe siècle, Collège des Bernardins, Paris, October 18–December 16, 2023. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Thomas Lannes

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Sterling Ruby in
Un patrimoine méconnu. Tableaux du diocèse de Paris du XVe au XXe siècle

October 18–December 16, 2023
Collège des Bernardins, Paris
www.collegedesbernardins.fr

This exhibition, whose title translates to A Little-Known Heritage: Paintings from the Diocese of Paris from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Centuries, places fourteen rarely seen paintings from the collection of the diocese in dialogue with a work by Sterling Ruby. Ruby’s ceramic sculpture Basin Theology/BRAVAMAX (2014) alludes to the rich Christian symbolism of the basin as a purifying vessel. Made by fusing discarded clay shards into a new form, the work engages the paintings’ sacred themes.

Installation view, Un patrimoine méconnu. Tableaux du diocèse de Paris du XVe au XXe siècle, Collège des Bernardins, Paris, October 18–December 16, 2023. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Thomas Lannes

Jonas Wood, Patterned Interior with Mar Vista View, 2020, Rachofsky Collection, installation view, The Warehouse, Dallas © Jonas Wood. Photo: Kevin Todora

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Room by Room
Concepts, Themes, and Artists in the Rachofsky Collection

September 9–November 25, 2023
The Warehouse, Dallas
thewarehousedallas.org

Room by Room builds on the ongoing interest at The Warehouse to reflect on the development of its collection, presenting works for the first time. Spanning a range of mediums, geographies, and eras, each gallery focuses on a single artist or theme, allowing an in-depth look at the artistic movements important to the collection from the outset, together with other avenues of interest that have developed over the years. Work by Richard Artschwager, Carol Bove, Alex Israel, Sterling Ruby, and Jonas Wood is included.

Jonas Wood, Patterned Interior with Mar Vista View, 2020, Rachofsky Collection, installation view, The Warehouse, Dallas © Jonas Wood. Photo: Kevin Todora

Sterling Ruby, BLACK STOVE I, 2014 © Sterling Ruby

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Sterling Ruby in
ARTZUID 2023

May 20–September 24, 2023
Various locations in Amsterdam
artzuid.nl

The eighth edition of ARTZUID, the Amsterdam Sculpture Biennial, includes more than fifty outdoor sculptures by fifty international artists along a two-and-a-half-kilometer route in the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid. This year’s edition is organized around the theme of “transfer,” reflecting how artists and iconic movements of the 1960s, 1980s, and 2000s sought to transfer the site of artistic engagement from the institution to the streets. Work by Sterling Ruby is included.

Sterling Ruby, BLACK STOVE I, 2014 © Sterling Ruby

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Press

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