ARTIST BIO

Esther Ruiz received a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art from Rhodes College in 2011. Ruiz uses a Minimalist vocabulary to create relics of imagined experiences. Of her creative process, she says: “The imagery I work with is born out of exploring and researching fictional places imagined in my mind…this imagined place acts not a form of escapism but of inclusion. I finally found a place that I belong, and ultimately, my work exists as an effort to visually explain an emotional state of mind with mathematical acuteness, hence the paired down materials and forms.” She begins with a collection of emotions, memories, impressions of light, and sounds, then translates them into an abstract geometric aesthetic. The newer works, shifting away from the cylindrical forms, but still adhering to a strict material diet, act as objects from these landscapes. Some act as tomes, containing foreign information; others as stand-ins for familiar domestic objects but with fundamental idiosyncrasies. The series of Wells, began in 2014 as wormholes or portals to these worlds. Reflective materials invite the viewer to join this fantastical world.

Ruiz has shown nationally and internationally at various galleries, including solo and two-person exhibitions at Sobering Galerie (Paris), Monaco (St. Louis), Cleo Gallery (Savannah), De Novo Gallery (D.C.), The Schneider Museum of Art, Reynolds Gallery (Richmond), yours mine & ours (New Yor), Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Platform Baltimore. She has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions including St. John’s University, Knockdown Center (Queens), Deslave, LVL3, Jacob’s LA, New Release Gallery, and Hollis Taggart. In 2023, she will have solo and two-person shows at Chart Gallery (New York) and Reynolds Gallery (Richmond). She has been featured in The Washington Post, Art News Magazine, Art F City and VICE. She has been a visiting lecturer at School of Visual Arts, Moore College of Art and Design, and Santa Barbara City College, among others.