Ruby T
Ruby T’s work is rooted in drawing, fueled by anger, desire, and magic. Her drawings and marbled silk paintings are translations of political and sexual desire. Within oppressive social conditions, language circumscribes both forms of yearning, collapsing them into each other as they flow toward the limits of fantasy. For the past few years, she has been preoccupied with drawing moving water—particularly the impossible act of representing it—landing recently on the process of marbling, which essentially is a print of the surface of water. Another recent body of work consists of satirical cartoons depicting U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. These cartoons are part of an ongoing experiment in which she draws the opportunistic misogynist over and over again from the same grimacing photo while listening to him speak. Ruby’s drawing practice is equal parts performative and devotional. On a perpetual quest to realize the conceptual potential of cartooning and protest art, she asks herself: “What is the viability of a feminism based in sex, magic, and friendship when it trickles or explodes into the cold uncompromising outside world?”
Ruby T’s has had two solo shows at Western Exhibitions and she has had solo and two-person exhibitions in Chicago at Randy Alexander Gallery, Roots & Culture and The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food. Group exhibitions and …
Ruby T’s work is rooted in drawing, fueled by anger, desire, and magic. Her drawings and marbled silk paintings are translations of political and sexual desire. Within oppressive social conditions, language circumscribes both forms of yearning, collapsing them into each other as they flow toward the limits of fantasy. For the past few years, she has been preoccupied with drawing moving water—particularly the impossible act of representing it—landing recently on the process of marbling, which essentially is a print of the surface of water. Another recent body of work consists of satirical cartoons depicting U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. These cartoons are part of an ongoing experiment in which she draws the opportunistic misogynist over and over again from the same grimacing photo while listening to him speak. Ruby’s drawing practice is equal parts performative and devotional. On a perpetual quest to realize the conceptual potential of cartooning and protest art, she asks herself: “What is the viability of a feminism based in sex, magic, and friendship when it trickles or explodes into the cold uncompromising outside world?”
Ruby T’s has had two solo shows at Western Exhibitions and she has had solo and two-person exhibitions in Chicago at Randy Alexander Gallery, Roots & Culture and The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food. Group exhibitions and screenings include Hales Gallery in New York; Hyde Park Art Center, Iceberg Projects, Weinberg/ Newton Gallery, Gallery 400, ACRE Projects, and Roman Susan, all in Chicago; and at Monaco in St. Louis. Her work has been written about and reviewed in Hyperallergic, The Chicago Tribune, Newcity, The Chicago Reader, and Chicago Artist Writers. She has received grants from the Chicago Department of Public Affairs and residency and fellowship awards from Ox-Bow, Wassaic Project, and ACRE. Her band Lezurrexion has performed in over 50 crusty basements, clubs, and secret outdoor spaces between 2011
and 2015, and she is a current member of the organizing collective Make Yourself Useful. Ruby T received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. She lives and works in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
