Sterling Ruby (1972-) uses a wide range of aesthetic strategies in his practice, from saturated, glossy, poured polyurethane sculptures, to drawings, collages, richly glazed ceramics, graffiti inspired spray paint paintings, soft sculptures, and video. His work is a balancing act, maintaining a constant tension between multitudes of elements. His work deals with issues related to the violence and pressures within society as well as art history, while simultaneously reflecting his personal history. In all of his work, he vacillates between the fluid and static, the minimalist and expressionistic, the pristine and the defaced.
HOT SCAR is made of acrylic, oil, cardboard and fabric on canvas. These small framed paintings can be seen in part as formal and material extensions of the artist’s BC series, in which fabric and other found materials were collaged onto bleached and dyed backgrounds, as well as the Yard Paintings where the artist collaged cardboard and other materials on acrylic painted grounds created by rolling paint on the canvas on gravel and pavement of his studio.
