Framed: 16.5 x 12.2 in.

This untitled photo collage by Sterling Ruby is a fantastic illustration of the artist’s adoption of primitive, natural forms contrasted with the cultured sophistication of man-made objects. Juxtaposing a carefully carved wooden chair against completely raw and unrefined materials, Ruby plays with ideas of the transformative and by contrast, the corruption of the natural world by the hands of man. In turn, this unique work is a wonderful example of the artist’s aggressive interrogation of the visual language of modernism.

A multidisciplinary artist, Sterling Ruby’s (b. 1972) work presents a dynamic interrogation of the materials used to examine power structures and social dynamics. Inspired by a wide range of sources such as modernist architecture, maximum security prisons, elements of warfare, urban street art, as well as antiquities, the artist is conceptual in his ideas and creativity. In 2001, he earned his BA from the Art Institute of Chicago and attended the Masters in Fine Art program at the Art Center College of Design located in Pasadena, CA. Following the completion of his education, Ruby stayed in California and has experimented with varying media and styles ever since, rarely working within one genre for long. The media categories of this artist include biomorphic ceramics, large-scale painted canvases, urethane sculptures, collages, and video recordings. Ruby’s works have been incorporated into numerous solo and group exhibitions, most recently at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (2011); The Pace Gallery, New York, NY (2011); The Saatchi Gallery, London, England (2011); and the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (2011).

Selected Public Collections:
LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA)
Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, CA)
Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY)
Tate Modern (London, England)