Ruby Sky Stiler: Seated Woman
Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present a show of new work by Ruby Sky Stiler. For her third solo exhibition at the gallery, Stiler continues her sculptural engagement with the iconic female form and its manifestation in a number of art-historical contexts, including, particularly, the varied dialects of twentieth century abstraction. The artist employs both conventional and everyday materials to create a body of work that mines a productive tension between high and low, the monumental and the prop-like, as well as the geometric and the organic.
The centerpiece of the show is the titular seated woman, which is carved in relief out of foam, and stands an impressive 10 feet tall and nearly 9 feet long. The sculpture鈥檚 material fa莽ade immediately brings to mind the milky-gray patina of marble, but this impression collapses on closer look, once we note the literal mark of the artist鈥檚 hand on the work鈥檚 surface, which she used to pat resin into place. The undermining of the work鈥檚 perceived grandness via the revelation of its relatively facile, at-hand creative process and DIY construction materials blurs the line between sculpture and set鈥揹ecoration, between elevated art and skillful practicality. The piece also defies the viewer鈥檚 expectations in its merging of the organically figurative and the rigorously minimalist. Bringing together the theatrical, awesome heaviness of, say, a Carl Andre object with sculptural cues that bring to mind Picasso鈥檚 modernist concrete monuments or even Matisse鈥檚 whimsical line, Stiler nimbly shifts gears between a variety of references, ultimately forging her own sculptural language along the way.
The sculpture鈥檚 macho, almost defiant size, in tension with the feminine subject matter鈥攏ot to mention its female author鈥攊s scaled down in a series of smaller reliefs, for which Stiler used errant scraps of material left over from her seated nude, among other odds and ends that are detritus of her ongoing studio practice. Zeroing in on abstract formsthat can be taken as parts of the larger figurative scheme in the seated nude, the reliefs highlight Stiler鈥檚 capable hand as well as her precise control of the work鈥檚 formal rhythms. Carved into, collaged, pasted and written on, the wall works create meaning out of incidental marks, and provide an additional context through which to view Stiler鈥檚 generative process.
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Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present a show of new work by Ruby Sky Stiler. For her third solo exhibition at the gallery, Stiler continues her sculptural engagement with the iconic female form and its manifestation in a number of art-historical contexts, including, particularly, the varied dialects of twentieth century abstraction. The artist employs both conventional and everyday materials to create a body of work that mines a productive tension between high and low, the monumental and the prop-like, as well as the geometric and the organic.
The centerpiece of the show is the titular seated woman, which is carved in relief out of foam, and stands an impressive 10 feet tall and nearly 9 feet long. The sculpture鈥檚 material fa莽ade immediately brings to mind the milky-gray patina of marble, but this impression collapses on closer look, once we note the literal mark of the artist鈥檚 hand on the work鈥檚 surface, which she used to pat resin into place. The undermining of the work鈥檚 perceived grandness via the revelation of its relatively facile, at-hand creative process and DIY construction materials blurs the line between sculpture and set鈥揹ecoration, between elevated art and skillful practicality. The piece also defies the viewer鈥檚 expectations in its merging of the organically figurative and the rigorously minimalist. Bringing together the theatrical, awesome heaviness of, say, a Carl Andre object with sculptural cues that bring to mind Picasso鈥檚 modernist concrete monuments or even Matisse鈥檚 whimsical line, Stiler nimbly shifts gears between a variety of references, ultimately forging her own sculptural language along the way.
The sculpture鈥檚 macho, almost defiant size, in tension with the feminine subject matter鈥攏ot to mention its female author鈥攊s scaled down in a series of smaller reliefs, for which Stiler used errant scraps of material left over from her seated nude, among other odds and ends that are detritus of her ongoing studio practice. Zeroing in on abstract formsthat can be taken as parts of the larger figurative scheme in the seated nude, the reliefs highlight Stiler鈥檚 capable hand as well as her precise control of the work鈥檚 formal rhythms. Carved into, collaged, pasted and written on, the wall works create meaning out of incidental marks, and provide an additional context through which to view Stiler鈥檚 generative process.
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