Sterling Ruby’s (b. 1972, Germany) work engages with issues related to autobiography, art history, and societal pressures. Employing diverse aesthetic strategies and mediums—including sculpture, drawing, collage, ceramics, painting, and video—he examines the tensions between fluidity and stasis, Expressionism and Minimalism, and the abject and the pristine

Living and working in Los Angeles, Ruby draws endless inspiration from the city’s physical and conceptual landscape. His practice consistently explores how acts of defacement, such as urban demarcation and graffiti, can produce a painterly sublime. Ruby’s artworks examine the psychological space where individual expression confronts social constraint, often spotlighting topics related to masculinity, incarceration, globalization, and mass consumption.