Sterling Ruby's BC (Bleach Collage) series showcases his distinctive approach to materials and form, illustrating a deep engagement with textiles and the act of collage. This series, active from 2011 to 2015, is a part of Ruby's broader practice that merges the boundaries between traditional craft and contemporary art.
The BC series is marked by its use of bleach on fabric to create unique patterns and textures. Ruby employs this technique alongside collage, layering various textiles to construct complex, visually rich compositions. These pieces often incorporate discarded materials from Ruby's other projects, emphasizing a cycle of reuse and transformation within his studio practice. The choice of materials, from moving blankets to strips of colorful fabric, is informed by Ruby's broader interest in societal structures, marginalization, and the intersections of cultural identity.
Ruby's engagement with textiles is deeply influenced by his upbringing in rural Pennsylvania, where he was exposed to Amish quilt-making and craft traditions. This background informs not only the BC series but also his larger oeuvre, which frequently explores themes of domesticity, labor, and Americana. Through the BC series, Ruby delves into the aesthetic potential of bleach as a medium, manipulating its typically destructive force to create new beauty and meaning. The act of bleaching, then, becomes a metaphor for erasure, transformation, and the complexities of American identity.
The BC series is exemplary of Ruby's "illicit mergers," a term he uses to describe his method of combining disparate ideas, materials, and forms to create new, often unsettling visual languages. This approach is evident across his practice, from his soft sculptures and ceramics to his monumental spray paintings and metal works. In every instance, Ruby challenges conventional hierarchies of art and craft, inviting viewers to reconsider the value and significance of everyday materials and the labor imbued in their transformation (İstanbul Modern) (Sprüth Magers) (ICA Boston).