June 5 - August 28, 2021
In the summer of 2021, the Moody Center for the Arts will present Brie Ruais: Movement at the Edge of the Land, the first institutional solo exhibition of the Brooklyn-based sculptor Brie Ruais (b. 1982, Southern California). The artist creates large-scale abstract ceramic pieces, which operate on the scale of an individual body yet dynamically engage the architectural or natural environment. Employing her own physical features and bodily force as an artistic tool, the sculptures are shaped by this burst of energy. The artist’s movement-based practice is legible through the scrapes, gouges, and gestures embedded in the surfaces and forms of the ceramic works. Each sculpture is made with the equivalent of her body weight in clay, resulting in human-scale works that forge an intimacy with the viewer’s body. Through her collaborative engagement with raw materials like clay, dirt, and gravel, Ruais’s work generates a physical and sensorial experience that calls us to examine our relationship to the land.
The exhibition will feature a monumental installation of ceramic works, created specifically for the exhibition at the Moody, and displayed in dialogue with a series of new photographs and a video installation that document ephemeral interventions on the land. Arranged on both the floor and walls, the sculptures will interact with the galleries and the Rice campus, referencing the post-industrial transformation of the American West. A site-specific work in two parts will engage both the natural grounds outside the building, as well as the man-made container within.
This exhibition is curated by Frauke V. Josenhans, Associate Curator, Moody Center for the Arts
The exhibition is made possible by the Thomas D. and Pamela Riley Smith Endowment for the Moody Center for the Arts. Major support is provided by the Louis Sudler Endowment and the Brad and Leslie Bucher Artist Endowment. Additional support is provided by the Tamara de Kuffner Fund, the Robert Lehman Foundation, the Kilgore Endowment Fund, the Sewall Endowment and albertz benda, New York.
