The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureArt

Sterling Ruby: EXHM at Hauser and Wirth

Sterling Ruby: EXHM at Hauser and Wirth | Exhibition review
22 March 2013
Joe Turnbull
Avatar
Joe Turnbull
22 March 2013

Entitled EXHM (short for “exhumation”), Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist Sterling Ruby’s latest solo exhibition at Hauser and Wirth is a monumental effort, filling both North and South galleries. Immediately upon entering, the sheer scale of the works is striking. They dominate the sizeable, usually sparsely decorated space of the North gallery. The familiar red, white and blue of the Stars and Stripes are here in abundance, twisted, melted and over-saturated to such a degree as to become sinister.

The works in the North gallery are divided into two discernible types: huge polyurethane structures and equally colossal soft toys. CDCR looks like two oversized revolver cylinders conjoined by searching tentacles, which are seemingly sickeningly steeped in blood, having the illusion of still visibly oozing due to the shiny finish. It is glossy, hinting at deep problems that are “glossed over” layer after layer but nonetheless still evident.

Monument Stalagmite/WE LUV STRUGGLIN’ is similar in style and hue but instead stabs menacingly out at the sky, blood red dripping from its jagged tip. This virile monument is propped by a wooden support, as if it was once freestanding – like a great power that has become impotent. This monolithic relic feels like a giant shard from a shattered American dream.

Indeed, the oversized soft toys seem to be airing out the ghosts of American imperialism, some covered in stars and stripes. When closely examined they are dirty, worn, used and almost domesticated, despite their absurd size. Some are strung up unceremoniously like hanging corpses; others are strewn on the floor like lifeless carcasses. Because of their scale, gallery-goers are forced to tip-toe around and over them to navigate the exhibition. This intense sense of foreboding belies their playful exterior and plush material. 

Taken together, the sculpted works are reminiscent of a glossy corporate logo: perfect airbrushed exteriors on first glance, but on closer inspection the facades are clearly hiding some dark and dirty secrets.

Enclosing the sculptures are framed pieces of cardboard dotted with other ephemera from the floor of Sterling Ruby’s studio, adding to the sense that this is an exercise in excavation. The exhibition feels like it is cleaning out the closet of the artist, cleansing him of his complicity in the American hegemony his work is clearly an attempt to subvert. EXHM is an absolute triumph.

★★★★★

Joe Turnbull
Photos: Robert Wedemeyer

Sterling Ruby: EXHM is at Hauser and Wirth until 4th May 2013. For further information visit the gallery’s website here.

EXHM (3942)
CDCR
Vampire 96
We Love Strugglin’
Related Itemsreview

More in Art

Africa Fashion at the V&A

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Edvard Munch: Masterpieces from Bergen

★★★★★
James White
Read More

Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Penny Goring: Penny World at ICA

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Metamorphosis and flow: Orlanda Broom debuts powerful abstract show Shapeshifters at Grove Square Galleries

The editorial unit
Read More

Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic at the British Museum

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Cornelia Parker at Tate Britain

★★★★★
James White
Read More

Our Time on Earth at the Barbican

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Brian and Charles
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • The End of the Night at Original Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Throne at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “We really wanted to create a cabbage gun”: An interview with David Earl and Chris Hayward stars of Brian and Charles
    Cinema & Tv
  • Flamenco Festival 2022 at Sadler’s Wells
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Adele lights up Hyde Park for BST Festival
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Lewis Watson at King’s College London Student Union | Live review
People at the National Theatre | Theatre review