Ruby Sky Stiler
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Biography
Ruby Sky Stiler (b. 1979) was born in Portland, ME and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her multi-dimensional practice draws from diverse time periods, artistic movements, and genres, imbuing familial and political structures with her own feminist values and insights. Nodding to art historical archetypes, Stiler’s work reimagines and recasts the history of figuration and the nude through intricate processes of disruption, fragmentation, and layering.
Drawing from her background as a printmaker, Stiler deftly navigates the tension between flatness and three-dimensionality, skillfully interweaving content with craft. Harnessing her decades-long engagement with diverse visual histories and techniques, Stiler reframes and updates the histories of collage and Cubism. Her work serves as a dynamic synthesis of past and present, melding Greco-Roman sculpture and Art Deco illustrations with contemporary textiles and internet-sourced imagery.
Her relief paintings simultaneously recall modernist block printed textiles and architectural details. These paintings combine resin, acrylic paint, graphite, and heavy watercolor paper into layered tiles that rupture and playfully subvert the art historical hegemony of the modernist grid. Central to this subversion, Stiler’s collaged figures challenge gendered art historical archetypes, depicting lesser-known tropes: a father with his children, lone matriarchs, and female artists, among others. She mines art history to combat the dichotomy between, in her own words, “woman as subject of painting versus creator of image.” Encompassing painting, sculpture, and design, Stiler’s work occupies an interdisciplinary space, challenging figure/ground and subject/creator hierarchies.
By rearticulating the past in her own distinctive vernacular, Stiler invites critical reflection on our present moment. Stiler explains, “It is very personal, but my reduction of forms also makes it more accessible, more like mirrors for people to project their own stories and histories into.” She adds, "What I strive for is to create a space where viewers can find connections and resonances that speak to our shared humanity."
Stiler’s solo exhibitions include New Patterns, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2022); Group Relief, Fairfield University Art Museum, CT (2020); Fresco, Saint-Gaudens Memorial Park, Cornish, NH (2019); Ghost Versions, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2015); and Inherited and Borrowed Types, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, OR (2010), among others. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including Friends & Lovers, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2023); No Forms, Hill Art Foundation, New York, NY (2022); Classic Beauty: 21st-Century Artists on Ancient [Greek] Form, Providence College Galleries, RI (2018); The Times, FLAG Art Foundation, NY (2017); We Are What We Hide, Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, ME (2013); and the Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY (2010), among others. Her work is in the collections of Fairfield University Art Museum, CT; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI.
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Public Collections
Fairfield University Art Museum, CT
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI -
Videos
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Ruby Sky Stiler
Frieze New York 10 May 2021Meet artist Ruby Sky Stiler at Frieze New York 2021, presented by Nicelle Beauchene GalleryWatch -
Ruby Sky Stiler for Studies in Quarantine
Rava Films 27 April 2020This is the first episode of 'Studies in Quarantine:' A video series using only the remote tools at our disposal that looks at how artists...Watch -
New York Close-Up: Daniel Gordon & Ruby Sky Stiler Take Baby Steps
Art21 6 February 2015What’s the art of balancing work and family? From their home in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, married artists Daniel Gordon and Ruby Sky Stiler candidly discuss...Watch
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Articles / Reviews
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In Richly Patterned Portraits, Ruby Sky Stiler Dismantles Art History’s Most Persistent Archetypes
Colossal28 November 2022 Throughout the history of Western art, certain tropes occur again and again in painting and sculpture. The motif of mother... Read more -
"NO FORMS"
The New Yorker1 July 2022 The concept of Minimalism has become so mainstream that it’s now as likely to evoke a tidy sock drawer as... Read more -
Ruby Sky Stiler: New Patterns
The Brooklyn Rail1 March 2022 Whenever I’ve been lucky enough to see Ruby Sky Stiler’s work in person, I’ve come away thinking about the idea... Read more -
Ruby Sky Stiler: Reflecting On Canvas
Metal4 February 2022 Through her practice and exploration, the Brooklyn-based artist Ruby Sky Stiler finds in the figurative representation of portraiture an approach... Read more -
TriBeCa Gallery Guide: New York’s Most Vibrant Art Scene
The New York Times28 October 2021 The large-scale arrival of new and veteran dealers has given the neighborhood its first unifying theme in 60 years. Here... Read more -
A Brooklyn Row House Gets an Artistic Revamp With Subtle Nods to Its History
Architectural Digest18 November 2020 The ingredients for a spirited and creative renovation were all there: an ebullient art collection, a historic building with lots... Read more -
Watch About It. Understanding Art And Artists At Art21.org
Forbes10 November 2018 Art21 now has two additional digital storytelling products: Extended Play and New York Closeup. Extended Play is a series that... Read more -
Art and Its Inspiration, Side by Side, at the Aldrich
The New York Times11 July 2015 Stepping into the Leir Atrium at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum , visitors encounter a motley group of objects arranged... Read more -
Sun Breaker
The Miami Rail11 March 2015 Locust Projects February 29 – April 18, 2015 A functional aesthetics is necessitated, in part, by climate. For hot climes,... Read more -
Ruby Sky Stiler
Purple Magazine2 September 2012 Ruby Sky Stiler was born in Maine in 1979. She spent her childhood in New Mexico and attended the Rhode... Read more -
TBA review: Ruby Sky Stiler's figurative sculptures
Oregon Live15 September 2010 Perhaps it sounds prosaic to observe that art history forms the building blocks of contemporary art. But, in the work... Read more -
RUBY SKY STILER
Artforum31 August 2010 Ruby Sky Stiler’s handsome yet disorderly foamcore sculptures, which often reference classical antiquity, have been exhibited at Callicoon Fine Arts... Read more -
Daniel Gordon, Thiry-One Days & Ruby Sky Stiler, Special Project in Callicoon on 07/17/10
Art F City28 July 2010 Daniel Gordon, Thiry-One Days & Ruby Sky Stiler, Special Project Date: Saturday, July 17th 2010 – Saturday, August 28th 2010... Read more -
In Words: Ruby Sky Stiler
BOMB Magazine25 May 2009 In this edition of In Words, artist Ruby Sky Stiler talks about her practice and her upcoming solo show at... Read more
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