Brie Ruais (b. 1982), Scraped Away From Center, 130 lbs (Night), 2018
Brie Ruais was recently acquired by The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, one of the oldest collections in the country. Scraped Away From Center, 130 lbs (Night), 2018, which was included in the 2019 exhibition,Intimate Immensity, curated by PAFA faculty member Alexis Granwell. Granwell writes, Ruais alludes to Abstract Expressionism and Performance art through the language of ceramics and physicality in her work. Her work is more than just process-based; the results of her labor intensive sculptures are documentations of performance and physical presence. Ruais work explores the limits of the physical—how far a body might push and shape another body, in this case, clay. The sculptures are literal recordings of the physical presence, but also reflect on how one’s presence might leave all kind of traces, imprints, and impressions that may decay or leave an everlasting effect. These were main concerns for artist like Ana Mendieta and other performance artists, sculptors during the emergence of Land Art, Body Art, and Performance of the 1960’s and 70’s; in which the questions of body and materiality as object and subject continue to be in dialogue.
