Sterling Ruby's SP (Spray Paint) series, spanning from 2007 to 2014, is a significant body of work that showcases the artist's exploration of spray paint as a medium. This series is characterized by its monumental canvases, where Ruby employs spray paint to create atmospheric color fields marked with an abstract lexicon of overlapping dots, drips, lines, and shapes. Ruby, who grew up influenced by graffiti and urban culture, incorporates these elements into his work, blending them with a broader range of cultural, historical, and formal associations. The use of spray paint, often associated with transgressive or subcultural activities, becomes a vehicle for Ruby to explore and challenge the boundaries between high art and urban art forms (ICA Boston).
Each piece within the SP series is a testament to Ruby's meticulous process and his ability to transform spray paint—a medium traditionally linked to street art—into a tool for creating immersive, abstract works that invite contemplation on the nature of artistic expression and the interplay between different cultural symbols and practices. The series, showcased in exhibitions such as the one at Nahmad Contemporary, reflects Ruby's fascination with acts of street expression and urban demarcation, particularly within the context of Los Angeles, where he lives and works. This fascination with urban landscapes and the inscriptions found within them is evident in the way Ruby captures the dynamic, often chaotic spirit of graffiti art on his canvases (Nahmad Contemporary).
Ruby's SP paintings are not just about the aesthetic merging of colors and forms; they also delve into conceptual territories, exploring themes of defacement, territoriality, and identity. Over time, the series evolved to become less conceptually oriented and more self-aware, drawing attention to the act of painting itself. Ruby's method involves layering paint to create dense, vibrant textures that echo the work of Abstract Expressionists, notably Mark Rothko, in their size and immersive quality.
By using spray paint, Ruby introduces a contemporary twist, merging sacred artistic traditions with the profane, everyday associations of his chosen medium (Nahmad Contemporary).
This deliberate fusion of contrasting elements—high art with street art, the sacred with the profane—typifies Ruby's broader practice, which frequently seeks to dismantle conventional boundaries and categories within art. Through the SP series, Ruby both celebrates and critiques the myriad ways in which urban environments and their visual languages shape and are shaped by the individuals who inhabit them.
