Sterling Ruby

A-30, 2010

• Sterling Ruby (°1972, Duitsland)
• ceramics
• 6 x 26 x 21cm

‘I have been working with ceramics for almost 20 years. I initially took a conceptual approach to working with clay, I first thought of my early ceramic works as sociological and psychological studies, case studies in art therapy. But over time I have come to see and embrace their strong connection to craft … For me, as a material, clay has always been about malleability as opposed to vulnerability … I like the opportunity for chance, the reclamation and recycling through materials. It becomes an autobiographical excavation, my own archaeology.’ - Sterling Ruby

Born in 1972, Sterling Ruby lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. As well as a prolific painter and sculptor, Ruby is also fascinated by the medium of ceramics and their potential as an art form. Inspired by the likes of Peter Voulkos (1924 – 2002), Rosemarie Trockel (b. 1952) and Lucio Fontana’s (1899 – 1968) Crucifix series, Ruby persisted against the sentiment that ceramics were considered merely a craft, and contributed to their continuing popularity in the realm of ‘high-art.’

Sterling Ruby’s works are held in numerous public collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as the Tate Modern, London, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, amongst others.