Ruby Sky Stiler’s “New” Art
Most artists stick to one style or one medium, when it comes to their work, and yet very few manage to work with a plethora of media, thus developing various styles and ideas. Even fewer–extremely talented–artists, manage to combine the latter in a single work of art.
By Hend Seif El Din
Ruby Sky Stiler manages to do just that. Her large foamcore sculptures, for instance, are both ancient carvings, abstract cubist paintings, collages, and minimalistic, depending on where you stand. Her work is both disorienting and thought-provoking, “forcing” the spectator to experience it instead of just to look at it.
Based in Brooklyn, the artist holds a BFA from The Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the prestigious Yale University. She also recently transformed a gallery into an attic space, in which viewers get to experience her show, which she described as a “hot, cramped room with a creaky floor,” which left spectators speechless and intrigued at the same time.
Her work brings her influences to life, including astrology, homeopathy, buddhism, yoga, native American traditions, as well as psychic readings, all of which she was surrounded with while growing up.
Her figurative work combines both, ancient references, as well as more modern, cubist, styles. Her nudes are very much influenced by Picasso, which are given a two-dimensional quality, reminding us of collages. She also combines iconography from classical art books with contemporary and imagined sculpture, giving birth to something completely new to us.