Good condition.
Signed and dated on the bottom.

Certificate of Authenticity by Taka Ishii Gallery

Born in Germany and based in Los Angeles, contemporary artist Sterling Ruby (b. 1972) works across diverse media including ceramics, spray painting, textiles, and sculpture. Through the structures inherent in the city of Los Angeles, he explores social themes such as violence, consumerism, confinement**,** and American politics.
After earning a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he completed an MFA at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. His works are held in major museum collections worldwide, including MoMA, the Guggenheim, and Tate Modern, and he is also known for his fashion collaborations with Raf Simons.

This work is from his signature ceramic “Ashtray” series. While the piece may appear at first glance to be an ordinary household ashtray, it reflects Ruby’s interest in art therapy and the California Clay Movement, reinterpreting the ceramic medium as sculpture in a gesture of resistance to art historical convention. Within its deliberately rough and unrefined form lie the fault lines of American society, such as violence, consumption, and decay, making the work, though shaped like an everyday object, intensely critical in character.

Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo