Sterling Ruby: ACTS + TABLES

This publication—comprising two books housed in a slipcase—was produced on the occasion of Sterling Ruby: ACTS + TABLE at Gagosian, Britannia Street, London. One volume is dedicated to the ACTS series and the other to the TABLES series.

In ACTS—whose title is short for “Absolute Contempt for Total Serenity”—Ruby captures liquid dye inside clear urethane and balances these pure prisms atop scuffed, inscribed, and spray-painted Formica bases. In the TABLES series, he explores the concept of personal and cultural archaeology, salvaging welding tables left in his studio from the building’s erstwhile function as a manufacturing warehouse. The publication features a two-part essay by curator and critic Jenelle Porter.