Exhibition/event has ended.
Sterling Ruby "Heat. Minthe. Swells."
Taka Ishii Gallery Tennozu
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Artists
Sterling Ruby
This exhibition is in conjunction with two other solo shows running concurrently at the Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto and at the Sogetsu Plaza in Tokyo, all featuring new work by the artist. This marks Ruby’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery and will feature works from his Turbine series.
Sterling Ruby’s Turbine paintings are a direct extension of the artist’s Widw series previously exhibited at Taka Ishii Gallery in 2018. An abbreviation of “window,” the Widw paintings saw intense reds, oranges, and cerulean blues obsessively applied to a canvas and then bisected by collaged cardboard elements, creating stark horizontal and vertical divisions.
Starting in 2021, Ruby’s new series continues challenging the boundaries between painting and collage. Similar structural elements blast diagonally across the vivid, energetic canvas, evoking not only turbines and windmills but also hurricanes, war, explosions, and fire- all emitters of “heat.” Referring as well to the swells of Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa and the nymph of the Cocytus River, the artist sublimates their inherent dynamism into abstraction. Rather than seeing through a window, the viewer instead becomes fully engulfed in the force and kineticism of the work and immerses themselves in a world where natural forces and sensory experiences meld seamlessly.
Known for his cross-media explorations into violence and social change, amongst other issues, Ruby’s thought-provoking series draws on the themes and aesthetics of Russian Constructivism and Futurism, with the artist particularly citing inspiration from the immersive abstractions and multi-layer compositions of El Lissitzky and Giacomo Balla. Although rooted in vastly different political environments, both art movements were concerned with the transformative power of art during a period of social upheaval. Ruby’s Turbine paintings tap into a sense of self-destruction and explore the inherent fragility of social and ideological structures.
“Heat. Minthe. Swells.” marks a return to East Asia for the artist, following a cluster of shows in South Korea, Japan, and China in 2014, an experience he carefully documented in his travel diary later published in Crash magazine.
Sterling Ruby’s Turbine paintings are a direct extension of the artist’s Widw series previously exhibited at Taka Ishii Gallery in 2018. An abbreviation of “window,” the Widw paintings saw intense reds, oranges, and cerulean blues obsessively applied to a canvas and then bisected by collaged cardboard elements, creating stark horizontal and vertical divisions.
Starting in 2021, Ruby’s new series continues challenging the boundaries between painting and collage. Similar structural elements blast diagonally across the vivid, energetic canvas, evoking not only turbines and windmills but also hurricanes, war, explosions, and fire- all emitters of “heat.” Referring as well to the swells of Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa and the nymph of the Cocytus River, the artist sublimates their inherent dynamism into abstraction. Rather than seeing through a window, the viewer instead becomes fully engulfed in the force and kineticism of the work and immerses themselves in a world where natural forces and sensory experiences meld seamlessly.
Known for his cross-media explorations into violence and social change, amongst other issues, Ruby’s thought-provoking series draws on the themes and aesthetics of Russian Constructivism and Futurism, with the artist particularly citing inspiration from the immersive abstractions and multi-layer compositions of El Lissitzky and Giacomo Balla. Although rooted in vastly different political environments, both art movements were concerned with the transformative power of art during a period of social upheaval. Ruby’s Turbine paintings tap into a sense of self-destruction and explore the inherent fragility of social and ideological structures.
“Heat. Minthe. Swells.” marks a return to East Asia for the artist, following a cluster of shows in South Korea, Japan, and China in 2014, an experience he carefully documented in his travel diary later published in Crash magazine.
Schedule | Nov 23 (Thu) 2023-Dec 23 (Sat) 2023 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Nov 23 (Thu) 2023 18:00 - 20:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/36748/ | ||||
| Venue | Taka Ishii Gallery Tennozu https://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/ | ||||
| Location | 4F Terrada Art Complex Ⅱ, 1-32-8 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0002 | ||||
| Access | 8 minute walk from exit B at Tennozu Isle Station on the Rinkai line, 11 minute walk from the Central exit of Tennozu Isle Station on the Tokyo Monorail line, 9 minute walk from the North exit of Shimbamba Station on the Keikyu Main line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6434-7010 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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