Free and open to the public. Thursday to Sunday, 10AM—6PM.
150 Camp St, San Antonio, TX
Free and open to the public. Thursday to Sunday, 10AM—6PM.
150 Camp St, San Antonio, TX
Take a break from the news! Each week, we’ll be sharing a list of recommended readings, audiobooks and/or videos provided by a member of Ruby City’s community. We started by asking Randy Guthmiller, our Manager of Visitor Experiences, what’s on his bookshelf and video feed.
Dreaming Red: Creating ArtPace by Eleanor Heartney, Jan Jarboe Russell, and Linda Pace
I decided to focus my reading list on books and essays that will help visitors have a deeper connection to the collection, and mission of Ruby City and the Linda Pace Foundation. Dreaming Red tells the story of Linda Pace and it’s a key book in understanding her deeply personal motivations to dedicate her life to art – collecting art, supporting artists and creating her own work.
The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry’s book, The Descent of Man is about what it means to be a man in the 21st century. One of Perry’s works, Untitled (2001) an image utilizing the likeness of actress Sarah Jessica Parker on top of an entombed Egyptian mummy, is on view at Ruby City’s Studio.
Leonardo Drew on Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century
I love artist Leonardo Drew’s appearance on season 7 of Art21, the award-winning PBS-broadcast television series about contemporary art. The series presents a beautiful portrait of the artist and includes mention of his time living and working in San Antonio.
Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin
Stranger in the Village is the James Baldwin essay used, though barely visible, by Glenn Ligon in his Stranger series. Stranger in the Village #11 (1998) which is part of this series is currently on view in Waking Dream. Baldwin’s essay recounts his experiences as the first African American to visit a small Switzerland town in the mid 20th century.
Stranger in America by Carly Berwick for Art in America
In addition to reading the Baldwin essay, I recommend reading Carly Berwick’s May 2011 Art in America essay Stranger in America which addresses Ligon’s practice of combining images and text to investigate how identity is constructed in America.
With the artist, BLUM Gallery, Los Angeles gifted 5 sculptures by Anya Gallaccio that mimic key minimalist sculptures of large-scale freestanding cubes or portions of cubes. They are made, however, from stones found in Texas such as limestone, granite and sandstone that have been sliced as though wood and fitted together. These stones embody, according to Gallaccio, geologic time given the inherent age of the rocks and the fossils often found within them. She poetically, and from a feminist perspective, reinterprets this Minimalist sculptural form, imbuing it with natural and geological forces. This gesture counters the severe forms—devoid of context or history—as well as the machine fabricated nature of works typically associated with Minimalism.
Alice Kosmin remains a steadfast donor inspired by the Foundation/Ruby City’s mission of providing access to contemporary art for all. In 2023 she gifted 28 works in her and her late husband’s name, Marvin, including photography, painting, drawing, video, and sculpture. Many bolster the Foundation’s holdings related to politically motivated or conceptually driven works, or those related to identity. Among the works she gifted are those by Nicole Eisenman, Valie Export, Emily Jacir, Kim Jones, Sean Landers, Charles LeDray, Annette Lemieux, Paul Pfeiffer, Jon Pylypchuk, Tim Rollins + KOS, Allen Ruppersberg, Laurie Simmons and Allan McCollum, and Sue Williams.
Mona Hatoum will be present for the opening of Water Ways, a group exhibition in which her work is featured. At the public opening on Saturday, September 9th @ 2pm Hatoum will participate in an informal exhibition walk through with Director Elyse A. Gonzales, followed by a public reception from 3-5pm which will feature music and refreshments.
Mona Hatoum was born into a Palestinian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1952 and has lived and worked in London since 1975. Her work has been the subject of numerous solo museum exhibitions including: KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2022-23); Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (2022-23); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2022); Magasin III, Stockholm (2022); Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, touring to Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2017-18); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, touring to Tate Modern, London and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2015-16); Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2014); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2012); Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (2009); Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2005); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, touring to Magasin III, Stockholm and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (all 2004); Tate Britain, London (2000); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1999); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, touring to New Museum, New York (1997). She has also participated in numerous important group exhibitions including Documenta 14, Kassel, Germany and Athens (both 2017); 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006); 51st Venice Biennale (2005); Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (2002); and The Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Britain, London (1995). Among other awards, Hatoum has received the Praemium Imperiale awarded by the Japan Art Association (2019), the 10th Hiroshima Art Prize (2017) and the Joan Miró Prize (2011). Her work can be found in collections throughout the world.
