CHRON II
Curated by Sterling Ruby
24 May – 15 September 2013
CHRON II presents more than 70 artworks selected by the artist from his personal collection and represents over a decade of artistic production. The exhibition opens Friday, May 24, 2013 and will be on view until September 15, 2013 at the historical venue of Palazzo Ruspoli. Admission is free. This is the second exhibition from Fondazione Memmo’s new contemporary department devoted to the young art scene. Coordinated by Cloé Perrone, this exhibition is promoted by the Fondazione with special thanks to Fabiana Marenghi Vaselli and Anna d’Amelio.
In 2008, the artist presented CHRON, a selection of works on paper at The Drawing Center in New York, which highlighted drawing and mark making in the artists’ practice. CHRON II emphasizes the significant role of collage within Ruby’s interdisciplinary artistic practice, both from a material and allegorical perspective. The artist describes collage as an “illicit merger” highlighting what he sees as the inherently transgressive nature of the medium.
The works on view offer the viewer entry to the continuing formal and thematic obsessions of the artist, from hip-hop to horror, from prison systems to public sculpture, from arts and crafts to existentialism. Prison (2004), is an early example of the artists use of prison as subject. The splattered nail polish in works like Mapping (2008) and Scratch / Chanel La Vernis (2008) can be visually connected to the splattered urethane of the EXHM series (2011-2013). The transcendental implications of the HEAD TREKKERS series with its skulls as planet motif is continued in the artist’s most recent series, DRFTRS (2013), where images of engines, skulls, caves, burial grounds, crafted pillows, movie monsters and a marked up Helter Skelter title page seemingly float in washes of paint. Channeling aggressive and uncomfortable imagery, Ruby creates works all the more intriguing by their often unexpected beauty.
Sterling Ruby lives and works in Los Angeles and was born in Bitburg, Germany in 1972. He studied at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in California. Major solo exhibitions include Soft Work, which opened at Centre D’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2012) and travelled to FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012) and Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2012); Grid Ripper, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo (2008); Supermax 2008, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2008), and CHRON, The Drawing Center, New York (2008). He will have a solo show at Museum Dhont-Dhaenens, Ghent, Belgium in the fall of 2013.
Since 1990, Fondazione Memmo has been organizing exhibitions of ancient art. Its aim is to connect young people and the wider public to the art world by introducing them the masterpieces from the most varied civilizations and times, through the dissemination, preservation and restoration of artworks, by supporting the research, and by organizing, directly or indirectly, conferences, seminars and exhibitions in collaboration with museums, universities and public and private companies. Fondazione Memmo – Arte Contemporanea is a project initiated by Fabiana Marenghi Vaselli e Anna d’Amelio in 2012 which introduces a new exhibition program dedicated to contemporary art.
In conjunction with Fondazione Memmo exhibition, MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma celebrates Sterling Ruby by presenting SOFT WORK, a solo show opening Tuesday, May 21st 2013 at 7pm and on view from May 22 to September 15, 2013 at the Testaccio location (Piazza O. Giustiniani 4, Rome). The exhibition, conceived by the artist as a single work, is composed by large “soft sculptures”, most of which are created specifically for an evocative and original setting. In addition, Ruby will give a lecture at MACRO (Via Nizza) in the auditorium on Wednesday, May 22nd 2013 at 6pm.
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