OPENING RECEPTION April 8th, 5-7pm

On view through May 3rd

Cross MacKenzie Gallery is pleased to present “Wells,” by Esther Ruiz. Ruiz’s “Wells,” cut plexiglass shapes rimmed by neon tubing, entice the viewer into the abyss while distorting that which stares out. Drawing from the sculptural language of Dan Flavin, and the incandescent imagery of science fiction literature, Ruiz’s sculptures are at once both sentimental of the past and evocatively futuristic.

Ruiz, in her own words, began the “Wells” series in 2014 “as wormholes or portals to…other worlds.” Fittingly, these amorphous plexiglass shapes, rimmed in otherworldly light, warp any reflections and project alternative vantages of the surrounding environment. The viewer is guided in to the alien vistas through the welcoming allure of colors and materials, materials so redolent of the popular culture of the last three decades that they appear harmless and almost insubstantial. Ruiz crafts her “Wells” with a disarming playfulness reminiscent of that childish sense of wonder, which sees the world as it is and at the same time the grand possibilities of what could be.

Esther Ruiz received a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Rhodes College in 2011. She has since shown nationally and internationally at various galleries, including New Release Gallery, Planthouse Gallery, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Platform Baltimore, Vox Populi, Field Projects, Fridman Gallery, Regina Rex, and The American Center for Physics, as well as being awarded the Artist Grant and Williamsburg Studio Lottery by Spaceworks. Born in Houston, Texas, Ruiz currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.