Using Her Body Weight, Brie Ruais Heaves 130 Pounds of Ceramic into Radial Sculptures

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Art
Nature

#Brie Ruais
#ceramics
#sculpture

August 28, 2024

Grace Ebert

a round beige and white wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point. a curved blue piece cradles the right and bottom sides

“Gesturing for Her to Follow (130lbs times two)” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 112 x 101 x 3 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, New York|Los Angeles, shared with permission

Beginning with 130 pounds of soft clay, Brie Ruais sculpts radial forms that capture her body’s movement and proportions. The amount of material aligns with the artist’s weight, which she heaves from a central point to create the appearance of bursting outward. Each textured wall work freezes an imprint of her body, while glazes in deep charcoal, blue, beige, and rose conjure the elements of earth, water, air, and fire.

Following a recent move from New York to New Mexico, Ruais has experienced high frontal winds, which can reach up to 50 miles per hour at their spring peaks. The artist credits these gusts with “pushing her forward” into a new series, which will go on view next month at albertz benda.

a round pink and white wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point.

“Petaling Inward, Slicing Outward, 130lbs” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 69 1/2 x 68 x 4 inches

Bone Dice takes its name from “Early December in Croton-on-Hudson” by Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück. Describing a car breakdown on a cold winter day, the poem speaks to human vulnerability in the face of nature’s power but also chance and desire.

Long, sweeping gestures evocative of wind and waves characterize Ruais’s works, and recent pieces like “Gesturing for Her to Follow (130lbs times two)” and “Holding the Space Between Two Waves, High Tide (130lbs Cut from Low Tide)” augment radial shapes with crescent-shaped curves. Glazed in shades from navy to a pastel, sky blue, these forms echo both waxing and waning moon phases.

a round beige and white wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point with the right and bottom sides cut cleanly. a curved blue piece cradles the right and bottom sides

“Holding the Space Between Two Waves, High Tide (130lbs Cut from Low Tide)” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 77 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches

Ruais is concerned with the relationship between humans and ecology and what embodiment can teach us about equality and justice. Her sculptures inherently fuse disparate elements, connecting earthly, aquatic, and celestial bodies and serving as tangible records of the ways each one informs the others.

Bone Dice runs from September 5 to October 12 in New York. Find more from Ruais on Instagram.

a round pink, gray, and orange wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point. a squiggly crack runs horizontally down the center

a round beige and white wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point.

“Exposing from Center, 130lbs” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 84 x 80 1/2 x 5 inches

a round beige and white wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point with the left and bottom sides cut cleanly. a curved blue piece cradles the left and bottom sides

“Holding the Space Between Two Waves, Low Tide (130lbs Cut from High Tide)” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 96 x 90 x 2 inches

“Petaling Inward, Piercing Outward, 130lbs” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 66 x 66 x 4 inches

a round pink and green -gray wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point.

(2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 38 x 40 x 4 1/2 inches

a round pink, gray, and orange wall sculpture that shows pieces of ceramic with lines evocative of stretching radiating from a central point. a squiggly crack runs vertically down the center

“Holding the Space Between Two Waves, Low Tide (130lbs Cut from High Tide)” (2024), glazed stoneware and hardware, 96 x 90 x 2 inches

#Brie Ruais
#ceramics
#sculpture

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