Conceived and designed by Sterling Ruby himself, Softwork is generously illustrated with dozens of full-page photographs of works from the artist's last four exhibitions, as well as many images from Ruby's studio that provide insight into the artist's working methods. Ruby makes urethane and bronze sculptures, hallucinatory color-field canvases and handmade ceramics, addressing the conflict between individual desire and social structure, and the influence of institutional architecture, both literal and figurative, on human behavior and psychology. “'Soft Work' is only a didactic term. It's not hard, it's not solid, it's malleable,” Ruby told ArtInfo. “In America, there is a domesticity that is not associated with masculinity―or if it is, it's usually associated with a difference, a contradiction.” Some of the works in Softwork also point to the influence of the late Mike Kelley, to whom Ruby was both studio assistant and close friend.

Details

Personalities

Ruby Sterling

Type

Book

Place of publication

Cologne

Year

2014

Number of pages

168 pages

Language

English

ISBN

9783863355814

Open stacks or available on request

Open stacks

Illustrations

Yes

Bibliography

Yes

UDC code and author sign

709.203 Rub

Volumes

1

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