Go See – Berlin: Sterling Ruby at Sprueth Magers through May 28th
April 23rd, 2011
Sterling Ruby, Installation view (2011). Via Sprueth Magers
Los Angeles-based artist Sterling Ruby‘s work is on view at Sprueth Magers in Berlin through May 28th. The exhibition, entitled, “I AM NOT FREE BECAUSE I CAN BE EXPLODED ANYTIME” is named for a 1983 collaborative painting by Lady Pink and Jenny Holzer, and is also references American fear of terrorism. American influence is further expressed in the show’s color scheme of red, white and blue.
Sterling Ruby, Installation view (2011). Via Sprueth Magers
more story and images after the jump…
The artist’s commentary on terrorism reflects upon the mental state it encourages. The letters RWB are included in both title and colors, presumably standing for red, white and blue, as well as the political connotation of “Reporters Without Borders.” The ambiguous yet ever-present feeling of entrapment in the works, as paired with the cryptic lettering, connotes an overarching feeling of paranoia.
SUPERMAX, a relevant exhibition of Ruby’s at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008, also explored the concept of the paranoid. The show was based around the conceptual Supermaximum Penitentiary, the isolation of the prison system as it relates to the claustrophobic psyche. In an interview with Contemporary Culture Magazine this past winter, Ruby explained:
“To me, the SUPERMAX penitentiaries are an inaccessible parallel world. They exist here and now,in America. There is no redemption, only a static state of detainment as opposed to correction. Not only is this a criminal phenomenon but it is also a social phenomenon. I also started thinking of it equally in terms of art: where art is and where artists of my generation are. They are largely against the wall with blasted concepts of what art should be, what art could be, what it could never be again.”
Sterling Ruby, Installation view – Los Angeles (2008). Via Art Info
Also showing at Sprueth Magers is an exhibition curated by Sterling Ruby of personally influential artists called “Morris, Trockel, Holzer and Pink” (Jenny Holzer, Lady Pink, Robert Morris and Rosemarie Trockel). The work that Holzer and Pink collaborated on eventually gave way to a recent direction in Holzer’s career. Her series, “Survival 1983-1985″ reviewed the same powerful text-based “Truisms” that inspired Sterling Ruby’s current exhibition.
Jenny Holzer, First Impressions (1989). Via Art History Archive
Although Ruby was born in Germany, he has lived predominately in the Netherlands and the United States. The concepts in the current work are distinctly American, and present a politicized perspective for European viewers. Sprueth Magers also has a gallery showroom in London.
-A. Bregman
Reference Links
Press Relase [Sprueth Magers]
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: Feminist Art Base: Lady Pink [Brooklyn Museum]
2TRAPS/SUPERMAX [Sterling Ruby Studio]
Jenny Holzer [Art History Archive]
Exhibition Video [Vernissage TV]
April 25th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
[...] Go See Berlin: Sterling Ruby at Sprueth Magers through May 28th … Description : Los Angeles-based artist Sterling Ruby’s work is on view at Sprueth Magers in Berlin through May 28th. The exhibition, entitled, I AM NOT FREE BECAUSE I CAN BE EXPLODED ANYTIME is named for a 1983 collaborative painting by Lady Pink … http://artobserved.com/2011/04 .. [...]