Kate Fowle in conversation with Sterling Ruby Franklin ... · upon collage, as was discussed by Natasha Garcia Lomas, who has worked in the studio with Ruby as a manager and facilitator

trails end restaurant, kanab, utah, august 10, 1973from the series uncommon placescolour photograph51 x 61 cm

CONTENTS

INTERVIEW 007 Kate Fowle in conversation with Sterling Ruby. SURVEY

000 Franklin Sirmans, Encounters with Sterling Ruby. FOCUS 000 Jessica Morgan, StovES. STUDIO VISIT 000. ARTIST’S WRITINGS 000 APoLoGEtICS, 2015 (000). ChRONOlOGY 000 Bibliography (000).

007 INTERVIEWKate Fowle in conversation with Sterling Ruby


basic instinct

No matter how much video and film take on the

apparatus of the installation format and create situations

and spaces specifically geared toward the viewing of the

work, there’s nothing comparable to discerning one’s

own body in space via objects and sculpture. With the

exception of those early video installations, rare is the

occasion when finds a work by Ruby in sculpture or two

dimensions that is not being juxtaposed with another

object. The association between works is what make the

artists tick seemingly and is evident of the hypertextual

cut and mix aesthetic that is so apropos of Ruby’s art.

Nothing is so precious it deserves to be rarefied by itself

in Ruby’s oeuvre , which is why it is easy to speak of the

work in series and bodies rather than in it’s singular

object status.

One thing that is less evident in the very early work,

and specifically from his time in Chicago, is that he was

also a student of clay and ceramics. At the beginning

of Transient Trilogy is that long, loving close-up of the

surface of a ceramic sculpture. The sculpture resembles

‘scholar rocks’ that were prized in China from the Tang

Dynasty (7th and 8th centuries) for four paramount

qualities or sculptural elements: thinness, openness,

perforations and wrinkling. Ruby, however, came to

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Butler, Judy Baca, Andrea Fraser and most specifically

Diana Thater, Ruby’s professor at Art Center. Emi

Fontana also played a significant role with the work as

a gallerist, advocate and enthusiast, when she gave Ruby

his first Italian exhibition in Milan in 2008.

In LA and at Art Center, Ruby fully embraced a

multidisciplinary approach. Kelley was a teacher

and friend, and later a boss when Ruby became his

teaching assistant. Ruby made work in collage, drawing,

photography, sculpture, video and performance,

rigorously exploring all possible paths in a quest to

attain mastery of each medium. The approach also

kept people guessing and on their toes. While a lot of

things changed between 2000 and 2010 in terms of our

peculiarly American consciousness and how we love

and respect our diverse cultures, there’s also something

distinctly different about the work of the contemporary

artist in the new millennium. It has to do with an

embrace of new technology and the embrace of the

‘other’, that may have been fostered by a very global turn

in the discussion on contemporary art at the end of the

twentieth century, coinciding with the technological

breakthroughs of social media with Facebook and

Twitter launching in 2004 and 2006 respectively. With a

decade of seeing each other on Facebook and almost a

decade of sharing news via Twitter in addition to a solid

five years of instantly posting the images that accompany

our unique lives, maybe we can see each other a little

better than previous generations .

What Ruby and a few others were able to do by the

end of the first decade of the new millennium was to

work with the speed of new technology. And while

formal attributes may reflect those changes, the

accomplishment is all the more remarkable in that it

moves with the pace of social, cultural, economical

and existential change. He has been called a ‘one-man

Bauhaus’ and he has averaged between 3 and 6 major

monographic exhibitions a year since 2005. Additionally,

he has been an integral part of the most conceptually

disparate group exhibitions, especially because he has

worked in so many different media. A body of work that

at first seems to be a windingly drawn, compendium-like

Jonathan Franzen novel, slowly reveals itself to be a well-

constructed path of varied thoughts and chapters.



9SURVEYSURVEY8




epilogueAre we becoming better or smarter with our image

literacy? Ruby knows that image is everything, though

his objects disavow such a sentiment. His shows are all

compositions of juxtaposition, each object or painting

dependent upon another. No one thing is given primacy

in his telling. Certain works should be known as icons,

but yet they are not, perhaps because his project is so

vast. There’s no time to concentrate on making that

one image. In that way, everything he does is dependent

upon collage, as was discussed by Natasha Garcia

Lomas, who has worked in the studio with Ruby as

a manager and facilitator for almost a decade, in the

‘Eclpse’ exhibition catalogue.

While the best art always reflects its moment, rare is the

artist like Ruby who can touch on so many ideas and

aspects of a moment in time. It is not only reflected in

his interests but in the diversity of his materials and

effectiveness with which he brings to bare his skill as a

sculptor and thinker. There’s a Tony Smith in Sterling’s

studio. I hadn’t noticed it the last time I was here but it’s

there, boy is it there. It is screaming, in my mind: ‘Hello,

I am art history, iconic and strong and deep and long,

fuck with me.’ And, so Sterling does…

11SURVEYSURVEY10



13SURVEYSURVEY12

000 STUDIO VISIT

INTERVIEW14 INTERVIEW 15


FOWLE: That main gallery at Hauser & Wirth is also quite a difficult space, which is

something you seem to thrive upon. Visitors enter from one corner and have to leave the

same way, but then there is another open doorway directly opposite where you come in,

which naturally draws people’s attention, so there’s no natural dynamic established within

the space itself.

RUBY: That’s exactly right. It’s like you have to somehow get people to turn around

in the space. I quite like that. Generally from a logistical standpoint I really like the

problems of architecture. It could be a super small, tall or big space but there is always

something to push against or work with. I lamented the Hauser & Wirth gallery for

months. How do you install in a space like that? It was like being under a train track –

top heavy, quite dark and yet so expansive.

We had the dimensions of the beams posted in every studio and looked at them day in

day out, because something told me that the show had to be taller than that lattice. I

knew that you had to look through them to see the entire expanse of the work, because

that would create an experience that seemed off, but would also start to crush, or at

least flex the architecture. I don’t think people always get that about the work – that it’s

not just about making big objects for big spaces, or small works because of a particular

medium, but actually an exercise in producing work for certain situations.

To go back to the New York show specifically, the other thing I did – to deal with the

size of the space without creating partitions – is to put together pieces that wouldn’t

necessarily work with one another in simple terms. So there was a soft-sculpture with

a sheet-metal work, and there was a spray-painting work with a cardboard collage.

Formally they created schizophrenia among the mediums and aesthetics, which was

palpable when you stood in there.

FOWLE: Yes. When I saw the show at the opening my immediate impression was how

uncomfortable people seemed around the work. They didn’t quite know how to physically

respond to, or be in the space, which is something I’ve seen happen at other openings you

have had. But, when I went back later my first thought was actually how straightforward

the installation was in comparison to other shows you’ve made; there was nothing to really

make you feel uncomfortable. However, the longer I stood there, the more I understood

how incredibly intense the works were. Walking between them I thought about Artaud’s

Theatre of Cruelty and the idea that artists assault the senses of the audience to get them

to feel otherwise unexpressed or subconscious emotions …

RUBY: [Laughs heartily]

FOWLE: Seriously! Works of bright, primary colours and beautiful forms surrounded me,

but they were also hissing and restless. It seemed that they were installed to be traumatized

and traumatizing. I felt the objects were putting me in a situation where I was becoming

agitated and anxious, but I also knew it couldn’t be the objects doing this because they are

inanimate. So the only way to comprehend this weird atmosphere was to work out what

was making me think like this, to confront what my problem was. What was it that made

that happen? Do you know what was going on in there?




SURVEY94 SURVEY 95



000 FOCUSStoveSJessica Morgan


is identifiable, this is straightforward and that is simple.’ I was always told: ‘don’t use

that universal because it’s too easy’ and now I say ‘no, that universal is actually difficult’.

That’s the reason why you need to use it, because if your first reaction to it is, ‘Yeah, it’s

a cup, I get it,’ then you’re like, ‘Why a cup? What does that mean?’

FOWLE: Then if that isn’t enough confusion, there is a huge basin hanging on the wall

that is a bit like something from a tank and a soft sculpture that is a kind of figure that’s

been hanged...

RUBY: Actually it’s two figures copulating … again these are playful and simple

materials and forms, but then they appear unhappy and restless.

FOWLE: Exactly. That’s when I thought, ‘My God, I need to tread carefully between these

characters’. There’s a real tension that gets brought out between them and yet at the same

time they are all lined up and frontal facing, as if in a regiment.

RUBY: Yeah, yeah.

FOWLE: Perhaps this is why at your openings people instinctively know that they are

in the midst of this drama, even if it’s too busy to really see it. This underlying tension is

where the widespread feeling of awkwardness creeps in.

RUBY: That’s good! But, I think it’s also about what stance you take as a viewer,

because the installations make clear that your physical presence in the space has a

consequence. Are you supposed to embrace this sensation? Are you supposed to reject

it? Is the rejection actually the fact that you are embracing it? There are all of these

different reactions that could happen, none of which are spelt out, or made clear in

terms of which is right.

FOWLE: And I guess that’s what I was feeding off when I experienced the vaguely

uncomfortable feeling that the works engendered.

RUBY: Yes. That’s important I think.

FOWLE: Now I’ve contradicted myself and entered in to a whole interpretation of what

your works were doing in the show, which was exactly what I was trying not to do! So,

I guess the answer to our initial question is: ‘No, it’s not possible to have a conversation

about your work without adding yet more layers of interpretation.’

RUBY: [Laughs]

FOWLE: But, although I keep wrestling with the fact that I seem to always end up making

a ‘read’ on the show and the works, I can’t help but think there is something that induces

this. Perhaps it is to do with the fact that they successfully convey what you were describing

as that ‘unevenness’ or ‘discomfort’ which you are also confronted with in the studio?

RUBY: I hope it is always true that each piece has a life of its own. I want the work to

be schizophrenic, to defy and contradict how it is read, to shift in meaning, both inside

and outside of the studio.


STUDIO VISIT130 STUDIO VISIT 131

PAINTER, 1995PERfoRmANcE, vIdEo, INsTAllATIoN, PhoTogRAPhs

FOCUS136 FOCUS 137

Apologetics, 2015

i collect cAtAlogUes AND BooKs, pUBlisHeD BY pRiVAte AND MUseUM collectioNs,

oF KNiVes AND ceRAMic potteRY, oBJects FRoM A DiRtY, FUNctioNAl pAst tHAt ARe

NoW BeiNg pReseRVeD iN A steRiliZeD ReFUge. tHese oBJects, iN A seNse, HAVe

BeeN sepARAteD FRoM tHeiR Use-VAlUe. tHeY ARe ReMNANts, sigNs AND MeMoRies oF

A pReVioUs UtilitARiAN liFe. it is As iF tHese KNiVes AND Vessels HAVe BeeN

ReMoVeD FRoM oNe FUNctioNAl WoRlD AND plAceD iNto ANotHeR KiND oF WoRlD,

oNe tHAt WoRsHips pRiMAl sigNiFicANce. WHicH i sUppose MeANs tHAt tHese pieces

still HAVe A Use-VAlUe, JUst A DiFFeReNt KiND. i HAVe BeeN MAKiNg lARge ceRAMic

BAsiNs AND FilliNg tHeM WitH BRoKeN MAteRiAls tHAt looK liKe ANiMAl ReMAiNs

AND ARcHitectURAl WAste. i AM sMAsHiNg All oF MY pReVioUs AtteMpts, AND FUtile,

coNteMpoRARY gestURes, AND plAciNg tHeM iNto A MoRtAR, AND gRiNDiNg tHeM

DoWN WitH A BlUNt pestle. i AM DoiNg tHis As A WAY oF ReleAsiNg A ceRtAiN gUilt. iF

i pUt All oF tHese ReMNANts iNto A BAsiN, AND it gets tAKeN AWAY FRoM Me, tHeN i

AM No loNgeR RespoNsiBle FoR All MY MisDiRecteD eFFoRts. i Will No loNgeR HAVe

to Be BURDeNeD WitH tHe HeAViNess oF tHis ReAliZAtioN. tHis is MY BAsiN tHeologY.

tHe ReApeR Rips oVeR tHe tRAcKs AND NoW eVeRYtHiNg is coVeReD iN piss. WHeN

tHe piss DRies it coRRoDes tHe tRAcKs leAViNg A ReD AND pURple pAtiNA. tHe gReAt

DeAtH. tHe loNg scAR. tHe BURNiNg cAR.

ABD. cRiM Neg. FtA. MisD. tHRt. VAgA. cRpt. DetH. eXHM. DRFtRs. Bc. eclpse. sNAKe

eAteR. sURViVAl HoRRoR. FAN’s MissioN. RogUe. MoRAl pANic. ADUltisM. YoUtH Voice.

eleMeNtARY peNiteNtiARY. stARt YoUNg, FiNisH olD.

A FiltHY BlANKet coVeRs YoU iN WARMtH, sleep FoR eVeR AND WAKe Up to

soMetHiNg BetteR.

i’Ve stRetcHeD MYselF tHiN. lost WeigHt. i’M gossAMeR. i lAY iNsiDe tHe BoRDeR

Not pARt oF eitHeR siDe. i’M tHReAD iNsiDe FRiNge.

tRAils eND RestAURANt, KANAB, UtAH, AUgUst 10, 1973FRoM tHe seRies UNcoMMoN plAcescoloUR pHotogRApH51 X 61 cM

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Documents

Kate Fowle in conversation with Sterling Ruby Franklin ... · upon collage, as was discussed by Natasha Garcia Lomas, who has worked in the studio with Ruby as a manager and facilitator