Brie Ruais (b. 1982, Souther California, USA). Ruais received her MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in 2011. Ruais’ movement-based practice takes the form of large-scale wall-mounted ceramic sculpture, video, installation, and photography. Ruais has presented solo exhibitions at The Moody Center for the Arts, Houston, and Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh. Her work has been exhibited at public institutions including the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; The Hayward Gallery, London, UK; The Everson, Syracuse, NY; the Katzen Center at American University, Washington, DC: and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Her work belongs in public and private collections across the United States, Central America, and Asia and has been featured in publications including Artforum, The New Yorker, and The New York Times.
Brie Ruais’s practice is grounded in relationality, beginning with the body and clay before expanding into the interconnected relationships that shape human, ecological, and material worlds. Through collaboration with clay, she explores somatic, pre-cognitive knowledge informed by phenomenology, embodied practice, and the poetic dimensions of language. Each work begins with 130 pounds of clay—the artist’s body weight—placed on the floor and activated through a choreographed sequence of movements developed through research and intuition. Circular forms unfold into bursts, vortexes, voids, and petal-like fractals which are then torn, cut, and divided into fragments that map a larger whole. These sections are glazed, fired, and reassembled into works that occupy the span of an outstretched body, inviting viewers into a physical encounter. Working across ceramic sculpture, video, and installation, Ruais pushes the limits of both material and body to explore ways of making sense of a complex social, political, and ecological world. Ruais lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Brie Ruais
Museum of New Art
Broken Open, 2022
Installation at Museum of New Art, Portsmouth, USA
Brie Ruais
Hayward Gallery
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, 2022
Installation at Hayward Gallery, London, UK
Brie Ruais
Albertz Benda Gallery
Brie Ruais: Some Things I Know About Being in a Body, 2021
Solo show at Albertz Benda Gallery, New York, USA
Brie Ruais
Moody Center for the Arts
Brie Ruais: Movement at The Edge of the Land, 2021
Solo show at Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, USA
Brie Ruais
Night Gallery
Spiraling Open and Closed Like an Aperture, 2020
Solo show at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Brie Ruais
Locating Home, 130 lbs
Locating Home, 130 lbs, 2022
Glazed stoneware, pigmentes stonewar, hardware
B.R0044
Brie Ruais
Mapping the Land by Hand, 130 lbs
Mapping The Land By Hand, 130 lbs, 2022
Glazed stoneware, pigmentes stonewar, hardware
B.R0041
Brie Ruais
Scratching the Surface, 130 lbs
Scratching the Surface, 130 lbs, 2022
Glazed stoneware, pigmentes stonewar, hardware
B.R0043
Brie Ruais
Intertwining Bodies, Roots, Hair (130 lbs times 3)
Intertwining Bodies, Roots, Hair (130 lbs times 3), 2022
Glazed stoneware, pigmentes stonewar, hardware
B.R0040
Brie Ruais
Plant Dreaming Deep
Plant Dreaming Deep, 2022
Video
Edition of 3, 2 AP
17 minutes
B.R0045
Brie Ruais
Star Made by Punching the Sky (19)
Star Made by Punching the Sky (19), 2021
Glazed stoneware
B.Ruais0039
Brie Ruais
Star Made by Punching the Sky (18)
Star Made by Punching the Sky (18), 2021
Glazed stoneware
B.Ruais0038
Brie Ruais
Star Made by Punching the Sky (17)
Star Made by Punching the Sky (17), 2021
Glazed stoneware
B.Ruais0037
Brie Ruais
Albertz Benda Gallery
Ways, 2019
Solo show at Albertz Benda Gallery, New York, USA
Brie Ruais
Night Gallery
Brie Ruais, 2018
Solo show at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Brie Ruais
Young World
According to the Body, 2016
Installation at Young World in Detroit, Michigan
Brie Ruais
130 lbs. of Proximal Frontage
130 lbs. of Proximal Frontage, 2015
Installation at Mesler/Feuer, New York, USA
Brie Ruais
Red Pushes 1, 2, and 3 (130lbs each)
Red Pushes 1, 2, and 3 (130lbs each), 2017
Glazed ceramic and unfired clay
3 parts each, approx.
Brie Ruais
Landscape Painting with 130lbs of Clay (Dark Sky Law), 130lbs (AKA Black Horizon)
Landscape Painting with 130lbs of Clay (Dark Sky Law), 130lbs (AKA Black Horizon), 2016
Glazed ceramic, hardware
Brie Ruais
Star I Made by Punching the Sky (7)
Star I Made by Punching the Sky (7), 2018
Fired clay, gaze
Brie Ruais
Star I Made by Punching the Sky (5)
Star I Made by Punching the Sky (5), 2018
Fired clay, glaze
Brie Ruais
Star I Made by Punching the Sky (4)
Star I Made by Punching the Sky (4), 2018
Fired clay, glaze
Brie Ruais
Spreading Out from Center in Five Directions (Left Arm, Left Leg, Right Arm, Right Leg), 130lbs,
Spreading Out from Center in Five Directions (Left Arm, Left Leg, Right Arm, Right Leg), 130lbs, 2016
Fired clay, glaze, hardware
Brie Ruais
Affirmation Pot: Me TOO
Affirmation Pot: Me TOO, 2018
Porcelain, glaze
Brie Ruais
Affirmation Pot: Grab Back
Affirmation Pot: Grab Back, 2018
Brie Ruais
Affirmation Pot: I Decide What Goes Inside
Affirmation Pot: I Decide What Goes Inside, 2018
Porcelain, glaze
Brie Ruais
Affirmation Pot: Me Too
Affirmation Pot: Me Too, 2018
Porcelain, glaze
Brie Ruais
Affirmation Pot: My Body My Choice
Affirmation Pot: My Body My Choice, 2018
Porcelain, glaze
Brie Ruais
Gutted
Gutted, 2017
Paper pulp, fibrous roots
Brie Ruais
Scalped
Caught in a Spiral, 2017
Paper pulp, horse hair
Brie Ruais
Holding the center
Holding the center, 2017
Paper pulp, wintered organics from the artist's garden
Brie Ruais
Cornered, 125lbs
Cornered, 125lbs, 2016
Glazed ceramic, hardware
Brie Ruais
Spreading Out Sideways From All Seven (130lbs)
Spreading Out Sideways From All Seven (130lbs), 2017
Porcelain, gold leaf, hardware
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