Menu

News / Sterling Ruby / 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

Closed

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

Closed

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

Closed

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

Sterling Ruby, HEX, 2022, installation view, Berggruen Arts & Culture, Venice © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Andrea Avezzù

Closed

Sterling Ruby
A Project in Four Acts

Opening April 20, 2022
Berggruen Arts & Culture, Venice

The Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust has acquired the Palazzo Diedo in Venice, which will be converted into a venue for exhibitions and artist residencies as part of the new Berggruen Arts & Culture initiative. To bring the palazzo to life during its renovation and make its new role visible to the public, the institution has named Sterling Ruby its inaugural artist-in-residence. Ruby is creating a multiyear site-specific installation titled A Project in Four Acts. The first phase is a relief structure, HEX (2022), that leans across the façade of the building, on view concurrently with the 59th Biennale di Venezia. As construction commences, he will stage two exterior installations enclosing the building as it transforms. The residency will conclude with an exhibition of Ruby’s work at Palazzo Diedo in conjunction with its official opening in spring 2024.

Sterling Ruby, HEX, 2022, installation view, Berggruen Arts & Culture, Venice © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Andrea Avezzù

VEIL FLAG by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA./Sterling Ruby

Closed

Sterling Ruby in
In America: A Lexicon of Fashion

September 18, 2021–September 5, 2022
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
www.metmuseum.org

Launching a two-part exploration of fashion in the United States, the exhibition In America: A Lexicon of Fashion at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art establishes a modern vocabulary of American fashion based on its expressive qualities. This first half of the exhibition uses the organizing principle of a patchwork quilt, which serves as a metaphor for varied cultural identities in the United States. Approximately one hundred men’s and women’s ensembles by a range of designers from the 1940s to the present are featured. Work by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA./Sterling Ruby is included.

VEIL FLAG by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA./Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, FLOWER (7852), 2021 © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Closed

Sterling Ruby in
Contre-nature: La céramique, une épreuve du feu

May 21–September 4, 2022
MO.CO. Panacée, Montpellier, France
www.moco.art

This exhibition, whose title translates to Against Nature: Ceramics, a test of fire, presents ceramics less as folklore and more as modeling, alchemy, technique, and magic where insolent, hybrid shapes made of clay and enamel compose a luxuriant, original, mysterious, troubling, and sometimes hallucinatory world. Work by Sterling Ruby is included.

Sterling Ruby, FLOWER (7852), 2021 © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Closed

Textiles de Artistas

March 12–June 19, 2022
Fundacíon Barrié, A Coruña, Spain
fundacionbarrie.org

This exhibition explores the history of twentieth-century art through fabrics designed by artists, with unique examples from artistic movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Pop art. Comprised of more than one hundred works, the show presents an important overview of weaving as a popular art form in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe. Work by Alexander Calder, Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Sterling Ruby, and Andy Warhol is included.

Installation view, Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 22, 2019–February 20, 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Claes Oldenburg; © Yayoi Kusama; © 2022 The Estate of Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Ron Amstutz

Closed

Making Knowing
Craft in Art, 1950–2019

November 22, 2019–February 20, 2022
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
whitney.org

Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 foregrounds how visual artists have explored the materials, methods, and strategies of craft over the past seven decades. Some expand techniques with long histories, such as weaving, sewing, or pottery, while others experiment with clay, beads, and glass, among other mediums. Work by Richard Artschwager and Sterling Ruby is included.

Installation view, Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 22, 2019–February 20, 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Claes Oldenburg; © Yayoi Kusama; © 2022 The Estate of Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Ron Amstutz

Sterling Ruby, SP132, 2010 © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Closed

Sterling Ruby in
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

September 10, 2021–February 20, 2022
Brooklyn Museum, New York
www.brooklynmuseum.org

This exhibition traces the groundbreaking history and legacy of the House of Dior, bringing to life Dior’s many sources of inspiration, from the splendor of flowers and other natural forms to classical and contemporary art. With objects drawn primarily from the Dior archives, it includes over two hundred haute couture garments as well as photographs, archival videos, sketches, vintage perfume elements, accessories, and works from the museum’s collection. Work by Sterling Ruby is included.

Sterling Ruby, SP132, 2010 © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Installation view, Sterling Ruby, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, November 20–December 19, 2021. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto M3 Studio

Closed

Sterling Ruby

November 20–December 19, 2021
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
www.doriapamphilj.it

In a rare occasion, work by Sterling Ruby is installed in the Toletta di Venere of the Galleria Doria Pamphilj museum in Rome, a repository of old master paintings housed in the private palazzo of one of Italy’s longest-established collecting families, in conjunction with the artist’s exhibition at Gagosian, Rome. The Doria Pamphilj collection includes Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1650), which famously inspired several reinterpretations by Francis Bacon. Ruby is exhibiting a painting created especially for this presentation, WIDW. CRASH CULTURE. (2021), as well as a ceramic sculpture, BONNET (7483) (2020).

Installation view, Sterling Ruby, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, November 20–December 19, 2021. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto M3 Studio

Installation view, Sterling Ruby at Cycladic: Ceramics, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, May 14–June 27, 2021. Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Sterling Ruby at Cycladic
Ceramics

May 14–June 27, 2021
Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens
cycladic.gr

In this exhibition, Sterling Ruby places a selection of his ceramic sculptures among the rare artifacts of the Museum of Cycladic Art’s permanent collection as well as in the museum’s temporary exhibition wing. Ruby’s works—which here include smaller utilitarian objects, larger basins, as well as figurative, floral, and totemic forms—converse with representative examples of figurines, tools, weapons, and pottery from the distinctive culture that flourished in the central Aegean during the Early Bronze Age.

Installation view, Sterling Ruby at Cycladic: Ceramics, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, May 14–June 27, 2021. Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, TROUGH, 2014, installation view, Abbaye de Saint-Victor, Marseille, France © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Sterling Ruby in
Manifesta 13

August 28–November 29, 2020
Various locations in Marseille, France
manifesta13.org

Presented as part of Manifesta 13, the European Nomadic Biennial that changes location every two years, the exhibition Anima Mundi gathers the work of several international artists in the ancient crypts of the Abbey of Saint-Victor, one of the oldest monuments in the Provence region. The works on display, mainly sculptures, communicate with the Paleo-Christian sarcophagi in the crypts and propose a reflection on death, spirituality, and the relation to history. Work by Sterling Ruby is included.

Sterling Ruby, TROUGH, 2014, installation view, Abbaye de Saint-Victor, Marseille, France © Sterling Ruby

Installation view, Sterling Ruby, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, February 26–May 26, 2020. Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Sterling Ruby

February 26–May 26, 2020
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
www.icaboston.org

Since his earliest works, Sterling Ruby has investigated the role of the artist as an outsider. Critiquing the structures of modernism and traditional institutions, he addresses the repressed underpinnings of contemporary culture and the coding of power and violence. This exhibition features more than one hundred works in an array of mediums spanning more than two decades of his practice. This show has traveled from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami.

Installation view, Sterling Ruby, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, February 26–May 26, 2020. Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/WS ROLLIN, 2011, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Closed

Sterling Ruby

November 7, 2019–February 2, 2020
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
icamiami.org

Since his earliest works, Sterling Ruby has investigated the role of the artist as an outsider. Critiquing the structures of modernism and traditional institutions, he addresses the repressed underpinnings of contemporary culture and the coding of power and violence. This exhibition features more than one hundred works in an array of mediums spanning more than two decades of his practice. This show will travel to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, in February.

Sterling Ruby, ACTS/WS ROLLIN, 2011, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Sterling Ruby, BASKET (6111), 2016 © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Strange

August 21, 2019–January 19, 2020
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
bampfa.org

A century after the Surrealist movement exploded across the global cultural scene, celebrating the improbable, uncanny, and mysterious, the “strange” remains a source of fascination and artistic inspiration today. Strange features works from Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive’s collection that invoke strangeness and resonate with the spirit of Surrealism. Work by Sterling Ruby and Cindy Sherman is included.

Sterling Ruby, BASKET (6111), 2016 © Sterling Ruby

Installation view, Reflections: Matt Black × Gana Art, Gana Art Center and Gana Art Hannam, Seoul, November 1, 2019–January 5, 2020. Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Reflections
Matt Black × Gana Art

November 1, 2019–January 5, 2020
Gana Art Center and Gana Art Hannam, Seoul
ganaart.com

In collaboration with filmmaker Matt Black, this exhibition is centered around his short film series titled Reflections, which features conversations with contemporary artists. Through his interviews, Black paints a picture of the rapidly changing contemporary art scene, revealing the stories behind the artworks. Following the film’s theme, Gana Art has curated this exhibition to feature works by these artists, which include Dan Colen, Rachel Feinstein, Jeff Koons, Harmony KorineSterling Ruby, Taryn Simon, and Blair Thurman, among others.

Installation view, Reflections: Matt Black × Gana Art, Gana Art Center and Gana Art Hannam, Seoul, November 1, 2019–January 5, 2020. Artwork © Sterling Ruby

Installation view, Dior: From Paris to the World, Dallas Museum of Art, May 19–October 27, 2019. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: courtesy Dallas Museum of Art

Closed

Dior
From Paris to the World

May 19–October 27, 2019
Dallas Museum of Art
dma.org

Dior: From Paris to the World surveys seventy years of the House of Dior’s enduring legacy and its global influence. A selection of more than 170 couture dresses, as well as accessories, costume jewelry, photographs, drawings, runway videos, and other archival material, traces the history of the iconic haute couture fashion house. This show has traveled from the Denver Art Museum. Work by Peter Lindbergh and Sterling Ruby is included. 

Installation view, Dior: From Paris to the World, Dallas Museum of Art, May 19–October 27, 2019. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: courtesy Dallas Museum of Art

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: Sculpture, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, February 2–April 21, 2019. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Kevin Todora

Closed

Sterling Ruby
Sculpture

February 2–April 21, 2019
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
www.nashersculpturecenter.org

Sterling Ruby’s expansive practice offers a reassessment, critique, and reinvention of a variety of modernist strategies. This exhibition features nearly thirty large- and medium-scale sculptures spanning his career, from poured polyurethane works to monumental ceramic collages weighing hundreds of pounds to soft sculptures incorporating inexpensive fabrics that the artist dyes himself, to Minimalist compositions of urethane and Formica.

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: Sculpture, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, February 2–April 21, 2019. Artwork © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Kevin Todora

Peter Lindbergh, Kiara Kabukuru, Debra Shaw, Paris, France, 1997, 1997 © Peter Lindbergh

Closed

Dior
From Paris to the World

November 19, 2018–March 17, 2019
Denver Art Museum
denverartmuseum.org

Dior: From Paris to the World surveys seventy years of the House of Dior’s enduring legacy and its global influence. A selection of more than 170 couture dresses, as well as accessories, costume jewelry, photographs, drawings, runway videos, and other archival material, traces the history of the iconic haute couture fashion house. Work by Peter Lindbergh and Sterling Ruby is included.

Peter Lindbergh, Kiara Kabukuru, Debra Shaw, Paris, France, 1997, 1997 © Peter Lindbergh

Sterling Ruby, Brass Ketamine User, 2010 © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Closed

Sterling Ruby
Ceramics

October 3, 2018–March 17, 2019
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
madmuseum.org

Sterling Ruby’s areas of interest are numerous, but sculptures in clay have long played a fascinating and primary position in his broader studio work. Process and materiality are paramount for Ruby, and using these attributes has enabled him to create an extraordinary body of work that is engaging, intuitive, and subversive. This exhibition has traveled from the Des Moines Art Center.

Sterling Ruby, Brass Ketamine User, 2010 © Sterling Ruby. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston, Business Cards, 1968, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago © Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston. Photo: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago

Closed

West by Midwest

November 17, 2018–January 27, 2019
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
mcachicago.org

West by Midwest tells a story that illuminates the ways that contemporary art practices spread and develop by tracing the intersecting lives of artists who have migrated from the American Midwest to the West Coast since the mid-twentieth century. Lured by career opportunities, warmer weather, and the prospect of a better life promised by the postwar boom, those artists who were able to migrate attended art schools together, shared studios, exhibited work in the same galleries, collaborated on projects, engaged in activism, and dated one another. Work by Mike Kelley, Bruce Nauman, Sterling Ruby, and Ed Ruscha is included.

Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston, Business Cards, 1968, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago © Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston. Photo: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago

Sterling Ruby, WIDW. BALLISTIC., 2017 © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Present Tense
Selections from the Lenhardt Collection

September 8–December 30, 2018
Phoenix Art Museum
www.phxart.org

Present Tense includes more than twenty paintings, prints, photographs, and sculptures all drawn from the private collection of Dawn and David Lenhardt. The show places recent contemporary acquisitions by the Lenhardts in conversation with works by modern artists. Work by Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Sterling Ruby, and Andy Warhol is included.

Sterling Ruby, WIDW. BALLISTIC., 2017 © Sterling Ruby

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: Ceramics, Des Moines Art Center, June 9–September 9, 2018 © Sterling Ruby

Closed

Sterling Ruby
Ceramics

June 9–September 9, 2018
Des Moines Art Center, Iowa
www.desmoinesartcenter.org

Sterling Ruby’s areas of interest are numerous, but sculptures in clay have long played a fascinating and primary position in his broader studio work. Process and materiality are paramount for Ruby, and using these attributes has enabled him to create an extraordinary body of work that is engaging, intuitive, and subversive.

Installation view, Sterling Ruby: Ceramics, Des Moines Art Center, June 9–September 9, 2018 © Sterling Ruby