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Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby is known for the multifaceted nature of his practice, which encompasses painting, ceramics, collage, video and photography, textiles, sculpture and installations. Working in a wide range of media, from the traditional to the unconventional, Ruby has created an oeuvre that, while remarkably diverse, is firmly rooted within a complex and coherent artistic strategy. Often drawing upon autobiographical, art historical or sociological sources, the seemingly ‘incomprehensible’ visual range of Ruby’s practice embodies a schizophrenic, ‘post-everything’ state of perpetual fragmentation and synthesis. His practice involves a combination of philosophical enquiry and material investigation, the latter involving the seemingly endless repurposing, combining and recombining of different techniques and media. This too mirrors a shifting condition of constant deconstruction and reconfiguration, and the idea of a non-hierarchical, boundary-less universe.

Sterling Ruby (b. 1972, Bitburg, Germany) lives and works in Los Angeles. In 2014, his work was included in the Whitney Biennial, the 10th Gwangju Biennale and the 9th Taipei Biennial. Public collections include the Guggenheim Museum, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; MoMA, NY; MoCA, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MoCA, Los Angeles; LACMA, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; SFMOMA, San Francisco; MMFA, Montreal; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek; and Tate Modern, London.

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Selected Images

  • Sterling Ruby
    Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA, 2020

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  • REIF. 7224., 2020

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  • WIDW. HEMO FLORA., 2018

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  • WIDW. SET FIRE., 2019

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  • SPECTRE, 2019

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  • Sterling Ruby: Sculpture
    Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX, USA, 2019

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  • Sterling Ruby: Ceramics
    Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA, 2018

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  • Basin Theology/SACRUM SACRAL, 2017

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  • ACTS/SPLITTTTTTING, 2018

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  • Sterling Ruby
    Winterpalais, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria, 2016

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  • STOVES
    Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France, 2015

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  • SCALE (5422) WB. GR. CAP., 2015

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  • DROPPA BLOCKA
    Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, 2013

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  • BC (4298), 2013

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  • M†S/BD, 2012

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  • VAMPIRE 79, 2012

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  • SOFT WORK
    Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, 2012

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  • EXHM/JOHN'S ROOM 3 (3504), 2011

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  • Excavator Dig Site, 2012

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  • CDCR, 2011

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  • Bad Moon Rising, 2011

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  • SP114, 2010

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  • Husbands/Sunburn P.O.P., 2010

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  • ACTS/Bounty Hunta, 2009

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  • Mr. Deep Bite, 2009

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  • Alabaster SR08-9, 2008

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  • SUPERMAX 2008
    Museum of Contemporary Art, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, 2008

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Selected media

  • Sterling Ruby on DROWSE MURMURS (2023)

  • In conversation with Anders Kold

    On the occasion of WIDW (2018) and DRFTRS (2018)

  • In conversation with Dirk Snauwaert

    On the occasion of ECLPSE (2015) and SCALES (2015)

Exhibitions

Publications