Sterling Ruby's quilts are a vivid exploration of textile as an artistic medium, blending traditional craft with contemporary art. Through his quilts, Ruby experiments with the materiality and techniques borrowed from fashion and pattern-making. These quilts are not merely pieces of fabric sewn together; they are complex assemblages of brightly colored yarns, elastic bands, collaged images, and a variety of treated and patterned fabrics. The result is a rich tapestry of textures and colors that challenge the conventional boundaries between painting, tapestry, and textile art. Ruby's approach resonates with the assemblage practices of notable artists from the 1960s, such as Robert Rauschenberg and Betye Saar, while also drawing on the spectacle of 1960s-era rock arena shows. This interplay of art and craft, monumentality and intimacy, along with the personal and environmental scales, positions Ruby's quilts as multifaceted works that defy easy categorization​ (Emergent Mag)​.

Sterling Ruby, born in 1972 on a military base in Germany and raised in rural Pennsylvania, has a diverse background that has deeply influenced his artistic practice. Growing up in a rural, working-class environment, Ruby developed an early appreciation for crafts, particularly influenced by the Amish quilts and Pennsylvania redware ceramics from his childhood. His journey through the realms of art took him from studying in Lancaster, PA, Chicago, and Los Angeles, to exploring various disciplines including cult psychology, minimalism, color theory, French philosophy, and Postmodernism under the guidance of influential figures like Mike Kelley and Diana Thater. Ruby’s work across different media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, textile, and clay, reveals a deep engagement with the material properties and the inherent challenges they present. His quilts, in particular, emerge from this rich tapestry of influences, representing a convergence of his rural roots, his explorations in textiles, and his conceptual engagements with space, scale, and medium​ (Numéro Magazine)​.

Ruby's quilts are a testament to his multifaceted approach to art, embodying a dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and the avant-garde, the personal and the universal, the tactile and the conceptual. Through these works, Sterling Ruby invites viewers into a complex conversation about the nature of art, the beauty of craft, and the endless possibilities that arise when these worlds intersect.