Sterling Ruby: THE MOUNTAIN

This poster featuring Crying Slab (2025) was produced in 2025, in conjunction with Sterling Ruby: THE MOUNTAIN at Gagosian, Gstaad. The exhibition—the details of which are inscribed on the poster by the artist—included new sculptures and paintings conceived by Ruby in dialogue with the Romantic tradition of the sublime. Rooted in the artist’s time in California’s Eastern Sierra, the works explore themes of germination, birth, growth, and decay.

Crying Slab is a monolithic wood burl sculpture adorned with puddled bronze tears. Its intricate, altar-like form is evidence of the tree’s long struggle to cope with infection, thus embodying themes of trauma, resilience, fragility, and endurance. Crying Slab also borrows from Surrealist animism to reflect Ruby’s interest in myth and mutation.