April 20 - May 15, 2024
Reuben Merringer
Bas Louter
Keiko Nakagawa
THREE FOR SPRING
April 20 - May 12, 2024
Opening Reception Saturday, April 20, 3-5pm
Ruth Gallery is excited to announce the opening of THREE FOR SPRING, a group exhibition featuring work by Los Angeles artists Bas Louter, Reuben Merringer, and Keiko Nakagawa.
Bas Louter's transfer series (top left) debuting in Ruth Gallery's courtyard apartment, is deeply rooted in personal context, completed at a time when the artist was balancing full-time fatherhood with studio efficiency and navigating the challenges of the pandemic. Through the transfer process, Louter abstracts images from glossy and glamorous printed material, infusing them with imperfections, loss of color, wear and tear, and a matte surface. This technique warps the original imagery, creating a dynamic interplay of creation and deconstruction. The flow of arranging and rearranging within Louter's process leaves room for the white of the paper, the distortion of imagery, and the satisfying sense of ambiguity.
Reuben Merringer writes of his work, "At the heart of my practice is the relationship between language and image. Visual and sound work to inform conceptualizations of language and image, and vice versa. My current interest is the presence of affect in the inscrutable, and how elusive familiarity and the seeming agency found within an image can conspire to potentiate emotions and actions resistant to categorization."
Keiko Nagakawa infuses her work with elegant gestures inspired by natural and animal forms. "Creating a shape in an empty space is a start and my work makes progress intuitively from there," she states, "I respond deeply to the phrase, 'truth is invisible,' and my work is likely based on this concept."
January 24 - March 10, 2024
a matter of space
January 24 - March 10, 2024
Saturdays and Sundays, 12-5pm (1-4pm during Frieze weekend)
Installed in Ruth Gallery’s courtyard apartment, a matter of space is a collaborative effort of artists Taylor Zanke and Alicia Cheatham. Zanke's sculptures using salvaged elements are evolving compositions, adapting to new conditions and architectures. Cheatham's intimate abstractions challenge the perception of space through the manipulation of painted material. Together, they invite exploration of the interplay between material and environment, inviting viewers into a nuanced reflection on physical and psychological space."
Taylor Zanke is an artist who uses material from everyday life to explore space and presence. He recently participated in the group exhibition Leaf Thru Pore Over (Ruth Gallery, 2023) as well as art fair TRYST (Torrance Art Museum, 2023) where he debuted a collection of works together titled I Know Some Things Form Without You. He is a member of artist collective Monte Vista Projects, and is the founder of Allowing Many Forms, a publisher of artist's books. He earned a Master of Architecture and M.S. from Columbia University, and a BFA from Parsons the New School for Design.
Alicia Cheatham is an artist and curator in Pasadena, California. In April 2023, she started a curatorial project space, Ruth Gallery, in her home, where she designs exhibitions of new and emerging contemporary artists. She has been invited to curate spaces at Claremont Graduate University and TRYST Art Fair, and beginning in 2023, will be collaborating internationally with B-LA-M. Her paintings have been shown at Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, and 515 Bendix, Los Angeles. Alicia studied painting and ceramics at CSU Los Angeles before earning her MFA at Claremont Graduate University.
November 11 - December 16, 2023
LEAF THRU PORE OVER
November 11 - December 16, 2023
Saturdays and Sundays 12-4pm
Hosted in Ruth Gallery’s courtyard apartment, LEAF THRU PORE OVER features the work of six Los Angeles artists, exploring their unique connections to literature, letterform, and bookmaking. Artists include Joel Freeman, Roberta Gentry, Amy Green, Carol Horst, Anna Rosen, and Taylor Zanke. Curated by Alicia Cheatham.
Joel Freeman is an artist and art worker living in Los Angeles, California. He is a member of the collective, Take as much as you want, leave as much as you can, and teaches bookbinding at Art Division, an art education organization based in Westlake. Joel has recently exhibited at Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis and Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles.
Roberta Gentry is a Los Angeles based artist whose work is inspired by the natural world and the balance of order and chaos that exists within it. Using painting, she explores the connections and conflicts that occur between architecture and biology, and questions the divide between natural and artificial. Roberta’s recent shows include Bozomag, Pasadena and Ladies Room LA, Los Angeles. She is a member of Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, and has an upcoming solo show at Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles.
Amy Green received her BFA in painting at the University of Tennessee in 1995 and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1997. Her paintings and installations have been shown nationally and internationally. Exhibitions include Rolf Ricke Galerie in Cologne and the Neues Museum in Nurnberg, Galerie Karin Friebe, Mannheim, Germany, Galerie Monika Reitz, Frankfurt and Kunstverein St. Gallen Art Museum in Switzerland, Evelyne Canus Gallery, Paris, Cirrus and Susanne Vielmetter in Los Angeles and Cohan Leslie and Browne in New York, among other venues. Amy Green is represented by Galerie Schmidt Maczollek in Germany.
Carol Horst employs personal symbols and archetypes in her ceramics sculpture practice, often creating multiples that play off each other for meaning. Her language of simplified, abstracted forms is inspired by both natural elements and industrial design. Her time is divided between a Tehachapi Mountain wilderness studio, where she pit fires, and Southern California. She will soon open Umu Studios, a new collective of ceramic artists in Pasadena.
Anna Rosen received her M.F.A. in 2010 from Columbia University. In addition to her multiple exhibitions at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, Rosen has had solo exhibitions at Kerry Schuss, New York. Her work has been included in recent exhibitions at Page (NYC), Lyles & King, Murray Guy, Cleopatra’s, American Medium, Malraux's Place, and Derek Eller Gallery in New York, NY; Special Feature, Chicago, IL; The Gallery @ Michael's, Los Angeles, CA; and at Silberkuppe, Berlin, Germany. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Taylor Zanke is an artist who uses material sourced from everyday life to explore space and presence. He recently presented I Know Some Things Form Without You, a site specific installation with Ruth Gallery at TRYST (Torrance Art Museum, 2023). He is the founder of art book publisher Allowing Many Forms. He earned a Master of Architecture from Columbia University and a BFA from Parsons the New School For Design.
August 5 - September 2, 2023
CAITLIN ROSS
Detached From the Detached
August 5 - September 2, 2023
Closing reception: Saturday, September 2, 2-5 pm
D.F.D., Sulla
2023
Plex, wood, plaster, sand, glass, aqua-resin, Flashe
13x12x12 inches
Photo: Paloma Dooley
Ruth Gallery is pleased to announce Detached From the Detached, an exhibition of recent sculptures and paintings by Los Angeles artist Caitlin Ross. This is her first solo show with the gallery.
Opening reception: Saturday, August 5, 2-5 pm
Join the mailing list or email alicia@ruthgallery.com for address.
This body of work is the product of Ross' long and complex investigation, reconsidering the history of modernist sculptural and process-based sculpture in general. Amalgamates of detachment and decay, the sculptures and paintings represent a multi-leveled excavation of empathy, fragility, and the instability of human connections in contemporary times.
Caitlin Ross (b. 1981, Los Angeles, CA) received her MFA in sculpture from Milton Avery School of Art, Bard College (2017), where she also received an MFA fellowship (2014 – 2016) and a teaching fellowship from Bard College in 2015. In addition, she received a teaching fellowship from Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA 2017 – 2018 and she received her BFA from ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA (2003-2006). Select solo and group exhibitions include Hermitage, Los Angeles, (2022); Incident Report, Hudson, New York, (2016), Ono, Los Angeles, CA (2016); San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA (2015); Waterfront, Kingston, NY (2015); Autonomie, Los Angeles CA (2012); Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA (2008); Compact Space, Los Angeles, CA (2006); Washington Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2005); ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA (2005). Caitlin Ross lives and works in Los Angeles.
