Sterling Ruby: LA/BJ

Struck by the eerie similarities between the giant megalopolises of Los Angeles and Beijing, Sterling Ruby (born 1972) takes the reader into his own journalistic vision-sourcing photographs of landscapes and interiors of the two cities, both shot and found by the artist-each page claustrophobically framed by collaged imagery of stalagmites and stalactites. The focal point where these two cities merge gives rise to a dystopic scene that feels like science fiction. Following in the great artist book tradition of John Baldessari and Edward Ruscha, the UCCA has called on Sterling Ruby along with LA artists Kathryn Andrews, Aaron Curry, Alex Israel, Matthew Monahan, Ryan Trecartin, and Kaari Upson to make individual artist books for The Los Angeles Project in Beijing.