In conjunction with the exhibition THE MOUNTAIN at Gagosian, Gstaad, works by Sterling Ruby have been installed in unexpected locations around the historic Swiss alpine town, extending the presentation beyond the gallery’s walls.
A distilled selection of Ruby’s new body of work, these sculptures, paintings, and works on paper are intimately rooted in time the artist has spent at his remote studio in California’s Eastern Sierra. Combining gathered organic materials with echoes of Surrealist animism and Arte Povera strategies, these transformed objects retain traces of their past lives to embody themes of trauma, resilience, fragility, and endurance.
1. Gstaad Chocolate Shop
Viktoriastrasse 3
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Monday–Saturday 9:30am–6:30pm, Sunday 10am–6pm
2. Zwahlen-Hüni Cigars
Promenade 65
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Monday–Friday 8am–12:15pm and 2–6:30pm, Saturday 8am–12:15pm and 2–6pm
3. Hotel Olden
Promenade 35
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Daily 9am–midnight, closed Wednesdays July 9–27 and September 1–7
4. Hotel Le Grand Chalet
Neueretstrasse 43
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Open twenty-four hours a day
1. Gstaad Chocolate Shop
Sterling Ruby
Walnut Necklace, 2025
Bronze
26 × 17 ⅜ × 7 ⅞ inches (66 × 44.1 × 20 cm)
Edition 1/3 + 1 AP
A strand of walnuts cast in bronze, Walnut Necklace is in dialogue with historic Post-Minimalism in its sculptural repetition of organic units, while also engaging with traditions of craft and adornment. Foraging for walnuts has a rich history as a cross-cultural practice, while the nuts and trees play a significant role in folklore and mythology. Transformed by the casting process, the walnuts in this work maintain their connotations as both ingredient and material, emerging from the artist’s exploration of pitted surfaces and the symbolism of germination and cyclical growth. Additionally, Ruby has collaborated with Gstaad Chocolate Shop to create a special limited edition of chocolates that echo the form of this work, packaged with a design reproducing a drawing by the artist.
About Gstaad Chocolate Shop
Gstaad Chocolate Shop specializes in handmade chocolate made with fresh, locally sourced mountain milk and cream. Founded in 2022, the shop and atelier caters to discerning local clientele and ships its products throughout the world.
Viktoriastrasse 3
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Monday–Saturday 9:30am–6:30pm, Sunday 10am–6pm
2. Zwahlen-Hüni Cigars
Sterling Ruby
ASHTRAY 732, 2025
Ceramic
3 ¼ × 17 ⅛ × 15 ¼ inches (8.3 × 43.5 × 38.7 cm)
Sterling Ruby
ASHTRAY 734, 2025
Ceramic
2 ½ × 17 ¾ × 12 ¾ inches (6.4 × 45.1 × 32.4 cm)
Ruby’s ceramic ASHTRAY works installed at the tobacconist Zwahlen-Hüni are characterized by pinched sides, rough textures, irregularities, and metallic glazes. The forms emphasize Ruby’s sculptural handcrafting, while their status as utilitarian vessels extends the improvisational ethos of Peter Voulkos and other experimental ceramicists. The contorted shapes and gouged surfaces preserve the artist’s gestures and have been transformed by firing, emphasizing malleability and metamorphosis.
About Zwahlen-Hüni Cigars
Zwahlen-Hüni offers fine tobacco and accessories, along with top fashion brands. It was founded in 1948 by Armin Zwahlen and Flöri Zwahlen-Hüni and currently has three locations across Gstaad and Saanen.
Promenade 65
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Monday–Friday 8am–12:15pm and 2–6:30pm, Saturday 8am–12:15pm and 2–6pm
3. Hotel Olden
Sterling Ruby
DRFTRS (8819), 2025
Collage, paint, and glue on paper
12 × 17 ¼ inches (30.5 × 43.8 cm)
Sterling Ruby
DRFTRS (8816), 2025
Collage, paint, and glue on paper
12 ¼ × 17 inches (31.1 × 43.2 cm)
The new paintings installed at Hotel Olden are from Ruby’s DRFTRS series, which he initiated in 2013. These layered works on paper combine washes of watercolor and gouache to represent storm-ridden skies, with black-and-white collaged imagery of bark representing fallen trees at the compositions’ lower edges, naturally creating their landscape orientation. Using diluted pigment to capture the ephemeral effects of clouds and atmosphere, juxtaposed with the visual textures of the collage elements, these abstractions interpret the relationships between natural forces in the landscape at both microcosmic and macrocosmic levels.
About Hotel Olden
A famed destination for many generations, Gstaad’s Hotel Olden occupies the former site of the historic Pinte Inn, which dated back to 1690. The hotel offers extraordinary hospitality, traditional alpine charm, and elegant modernity, with numerous dining options.
Promenade 35
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Daily 9am–midnight, closed Wednesdays July 9–27 and September 1–7
4. Hotel Le Grand Chalet
Sterling Ruby
HORIZON. Immemorial., 2025
Oil and cardboard on canvas
19 × 24 inches (48.3 × 61 cm)
Sterling Ruby
HORIZON. Fire Field., 2025
Oil and cardboard on canvas
19 × 24 inches (48.3 × 61 cm)
Sterling Ruby
HORIZON. Erratic Botanical Behavior., 2025
Oil and cardboard on canvas
19 × 24 inches (48.3 × 61 cm)
Sterling Ruby
HORIZON. Damask Roses., 2025
Oil and cardboard on canvas
19 × 24 inches (48.3 × 61 cm)
Sterling Ruby
HORIZON. Throwing Perfume., 2025
Oil and cardboard on canvas
19 × 24 inches (48.3 × 61 cm)
The HORIZON paintings presented at Hotel Le Grand Chalet feature intensely colored abstract passages of oil on canvas, together with horizontal strips of collaged and painted cardboard that engage with the tradition of landscape painting through their horizontal format and atmospheric colors. The themes of sensory overload, environmental transformation, and the natural sublime are reinforced by the titles—Throwing Perfume, Damask Roses, Erratic Botanical Behavior, Immemorial, Fire Field—which evoke landscape as a site of growth and destruction.
About Hotel Le Grand Chalet
The four-star boutique Hotel Le Grand Chalet overlooks the pedestrian center of Gstaad and is home to the restaurant La Bagatelle. Located 1,100 meters above sea level, the hotel was constructed in 1989 on the former site of Gstaad’s historic Hotel Neueret.
Neueretstrasse 43
3780 Gstaad
Hours: Open twenty-four hours a day
