Sterling Ruby

PRESS RELEASE

(St. Moritz, Switzerland) In conjunction with his eponymous gallery’s inaugural exhibition by Urs Fischer, Vito Schnabel is pleased to present an offsite public art installation by Sterling Ruby, entitled STOVES, which will remain on view through March 27, 2016. The installation is comprised of two working wood-burning stoves, each measuring 14 to 17 feet in height, set inside a garden across from the gallery at the Kulm Hotel. Each stove will be functioning at various times throughout the duration of the installation. While the stoves are partially autobiographical, as Ruby grew up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania with a wood-burning stove as its primary source of heating, they also serve as an allegorical form. 

Ruby states, “At a certain age I was bound to the chores of chopping wood, stacking wood, and starting and maintaining a fire…I started to think specifically about the truncation of things within the stove. What does the fire mean? What is the alchemy of it?”1 Contrasting industrial materials against the natural environment and confronting issues of waste and consumption, the installation is a continuation of the artist’s series currently on view at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris. This marks the first collaboration between Vito Schnabel and Sterling Ruby. Ruby’s installation reflects the gallery’s ongoing intention to curate this and other public spaces throughout St. Moritz year-round as an extension of its programming.

Kulm Hotel
Via Veglia 18
7500 St. Moritz, Switzerland

1 “Sterling Ruby Talks His New Show... ,” Vogue, May 12, 2014.