In SPECTRUM RIPPER Ruby seeks to undermine the dogma of "pure" minimalism, but he also challenges the idea of the color spectrum as a symbol of enlightenment or heightened state of consciousness. By infusing black into purity of the color spectrum, Ruby contaminates the romantic notion of the spectrum as "innate." Pale yellow, turbid pink, and acid green become the means by which Ruby erodes the geometric rigidity of the sharp-edged sculptures. Ruby’s work is a metaphor for the oppositional relationship between the "conditioned" and the "innate." This exhibition is the result of the artist’s struggle to negotiate between these two states of existence.

Once described as treading a fine line between "decoration and tragedy," Ruby’s art explores death and our fear of it. Profoundly influenced by Ernest Becker’s 1973 book The Denial of Death, Ruby constantly seeks to break our allegedly natural desire for heroic beauty and its sculptural symbol, the monolith. In this respect, the two sculptures in the gallery can be interpreted as fallen symbols of male power. By bringing down the monolith, Ruby not only castrates the phallic meaning often associated with this form, but he also quotes Mark Rothko’s Menil Chapel by turning the erect sculpture into a functional device: the bench. Installed two years before the publication of The Denial of Death Rothko’s Chapel sought to enable a spiritual experience, which Becker considered to be at a crisis point at the time. While Ruby seeks to explore Rothko’s legacy and the theoretical implications of Becker on modern society, his art is also full of mischief and laissez-faire, which makes it subtle and highly engaging.