Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby’s fluorescent orange monolith, SPECTER, appears as an apparition in the desert. The bright, geometric sculpture creates a jarring optical illusion, resembling a Photoshopped composite or collage, as if something has been removed or erased from the landscape. The block acts as a cipher or stand-in, mimicking the form it could be — a shipping container, a military bunker, an unidentified object, an abandoned home-stead. Fluorescent orange is traditionally used for safety, as a warning. Here that logic is reversed: a ghostly object, set apart from the natural environment, hiding in plain sight.

Listen to an interview with Sterling Ruby on the Desert X 2019 Podcast here

Title: SPECTER
Location: 98-2 Snowcreek Canyon Road, Whitewater
33.912473, -116.666832

Desert X 2019 is permanently closed. The artwork has been removed.