Sterling Ruby

Press Release

Kukje Gallery Sterling Ruby

April 11 – May 10

SP223 2012 spray paint on canvas 243.8 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm Image provided by Kukje Gallery © Sterling Ruby Courtesy of the artist and Kukje Gallery

○ Exhibition Information Artist: Sterling Ruby (American, 1972- ) Exhibition Dates: April 11 – May 10, 2013 Exhibition Space: Kukje Gallery K3 and K1 Press Conference: April 11 (11am), Kukje Gallery K3 B1 Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday: 10am-6pm, Sunday, Holiday: 10am-5pm Contact: PR Director Zoe Chun (82-2-3210-9885, 82-10-9601-5411 / E-mail. [email protected]) Website: www.kukjegallery.com Press Release

○ About the Exhibition

Kukje Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Sterling Ruby opening on April 11, 2013. This will be the artist’s first exhibition in Korea.

The artist will present an installation of new works in galleries K1 and K3 including large color field paintings, ceramic and bronze basin sculptures, and soft sculptures in black leather. This stripped down exhibition highlights the artist’s masterful manipulations of his materials and surfaces—from the atmospheric layering of spray paint on canvas, to the dripping excessive glazes on his large-scale ceramic basins, to pieces cast in bronze, to his fabric collages, with their rags and fabric scraps, edged with glue and grime and formally arranged on a ground of bleached denim.

This installation of works feels tomblike and austere. Large scale cardboard and fabric collages hang on the walls. Basin sculptures made in ceramic and bronze are installed in the center of the galleries as if serving as archaic sites of sacrifices or offerings. A set of pastel hued paintings stands in striking contrast to the dark and monochromatic shades of the ceramics and the fabric sculptures--the Vampire soft sculptures that the artist often creates from bright colored fabrics are presented here in stark black leather.

The cardboard collages, collectively titled EXHM, provide entry to the content and tensions buried within these new works. The artist makes collages with the large cardboard pieces that are used to protect the floor of the studio during the making of his large urethane sculptures. These cardboard pieces covered in urethane, dirt, tape and footprints are reinvented as formal compositions. They contain clues to a latent trauma with their incorporation of images of burial grounds, correctional facilities, prescription packages and other objects found within the studio.

In his recent ceramic series, titled Basin Theology, Ruby fills low basins with fractured pieces of broken and discarded ceramic works. This reuse of broken remnants becomes symbolic of an unburdening, a redemption of past mistakes and failures. The ceramic fragments, often resembling animal remains or pottery shards, are melded together through a process of repeated glazing and firing.

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○ About the Artist

Sterling Ruby (American b.1972) has become known for his monumental sculptural works, hallucinogenic color field paintings, heavily layered collages, his performance influenced video works, and for his innovative use of form and glaze in his ceramic sculptures. He has also become known for the issues he channels in his varied practice-- the conflict between individual impulses and mechanisms of social control, the powerful influence of institutional architecture on behavior, his engagement with irrationality and dysfunctional psychologies (particularly within America), and social alienation and marginalization which often results in upheaval.

Sterling Ruby lives and works in Los Angeles CA. Major solo exhibitions include the travelling exhibition 'Soft Work', which opened at Centre D'Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland (2012) and travelled to FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France (2012) and Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2012); 'Grid Ripper', Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy (2008); 'Supermax 2008', Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2008); and 'Chron', The Drawing Center, New York (2008). 'Soft Work' travels to Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy in May 2013. Ruby will also have solo exhibitions opening at Fondazione Memmo, Rome, Italy in May 2013 and Museum Dhondt- Dhaenens, Ghent, Belgium in the fall of 2013.

The artist’s works are included in the following public collections: Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY; Nasher Musem, Dallas, TX; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL ; The Tate Modern, London, UK; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst , Oslo, Norway; The Solomon Guggenheim, New York, NY.

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