Tour
Sterling Ruby
ACTS + TABLE
Thursday, November 7, 2019, 6:15pm
Gagosian, Britannia Street, London
Join Gagosian for a tour of Sterling Ruby: ACTS + TABLE, currently on view at Britannia Street, London, led by Serena Cattaneo Adorno, Gagosian director, and Alessandro Rabottini, director of Miart, International Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art. The works in the show lay out Ruby’s critique of the authoritarian, exclusionary ideological underpinnings of Minimalism. He begins with familiar shapes valued by the Minimalists—simple tables and rectilinear blocks—but subverts them by defacing their smooth surfaces and exposing their physical means of production. The event has reached capacity. To join the wait list, contact londontours@gagosian.com.
#SterlingRuby
Installation view, Sterling Ruby: ACTS + TABLE, Gagosian, Britannia Street, London, October 2–December 14, 2019. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Lucy Dawkins
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Online Reading
Sterling Ruby
ACTS + TABLES
Sterling Ruby: ACTS + TABLES is available for online reading from August 23 through September 21 as part of the From the Library series. Comprising two books housed in a slipcase, ACTS + TABLES was produced on the occasion of the Ruby’s 2019 exhibition at Gagosian, Britannia Street, London. One volume is dedicated to the ACTS series and the other to the TABLES series. In ACTS—whose title is short for “Absolute Contempt for Total Serenity”—Ruby captures liquid dye inside clear urethane and balances these pure prisms atop scuffed, inscribed, and spray-painted laminate-clad bases. The exhibition also includes TABLE (DOUBLE LAST SUPPER) (2019), the culminating work of Ruby’s TABLES, a series that explores the concept of personal and cultural archaeology. The book features a two-part essay by curator and critic Jenelle Porter and is designed by Purtill Family Business.
Sterling Ruby: ACTS + TABLES (London: Gagosian, 2019)
Screening
Sterling Ruby
Dihedral
November 27–30, 2019
Gagosian, Britannia Street, London
Join Gagosian for a special screening of Sterling Ruby’s Dihedral (2006) on the occasion of the exhibition ACTS + TABLE, on view through December 14. In the short video, a voice-over intones a modified quote from sociologist Roger Caillois’s surrealist etymological text, “Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia,” as waves of color encounter a clear liquid. Dihedral illustrates the process that is captured in Ruby’s ACTS series, in which liquid dye is fixed inside clear urethane blocks. The film will be screened during gallery opening hours, from 10am to 6pm. The event is free and open to the public.
Sterling Ruby, Dihedral, 2006 (still) © Sterling Ruby
Video
Sterling Ruby and Sam Orlofsky
Frieze London 2019 Online Viewing Room
Sterling Ruby sits down in his studio with Gagosian director Sam Orlofsky to discuss the Online Viewing Room collaboration on the occasion of Frieze London 2019, as well as his influences and the history of his work. Highlighting Ruby’s multidisciplinary approach to art making, this online event features seven artworks from pivotal moments in his trajectory, alongside a range of art historical influences that have shaped his practice over time.
To subscribe for updates about Online Viewing Room presentations, visit gagosianviewingroom.com.
Still of Sterling Ruby in conversation with Sam Orlofsky
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