RUBY OSORIO:
STORY OF A GIRL (WHO AWAKES FAR, FAR AND AWAY)
March 18 - July 17, 2005

In her first solo museum exhibition, Los Angeles-based artist Ruby Osorio has created an enchanting, magical environment based on her unique drawings and works on paper. A series of gouache paintings on paper that incorporate thread and ink present this young artist’s exploration into female identity and its construction through whimsy with a punch. Osorio makes connections between the ephemeral nature of the medium and a distinctly feminine psyche.

While considering the enduring hold fairy tales have on contemporary culture, this exhibition enables us to respond to allegory, myth, and fantasy as presented in narrative form, “the story of a girl.” Osorio’s stories refer to the physical and psychological dimensions of feminine awakening and escapism as experienced by contemporary heroines and girl collectives. Each story occurs in “far, far away” utopian spaces, where it is safe for girls to indulge fantasy, explore sexuality, and truly awake without shame or hesitation, and hopefully with a little joy.

In Osorio’s landscapes—as in any good Hans Christian Andersen or Brothers Grimm fairy tale—a journey takes place that requires substantial risks and discovery. Osorio explores various rites-of-passage in which power, in the form of female fantasy, sensuality, and sexuality, is celebrated. Osorio’s work addresses the anxiety, insecurity, and vulnerability that accompany many girlhood transformations and adulthood. Osorio’s enigmatic renderings of escape and leisure enable her girls to confront (or deny) their fears through demonstrations of sheer confidence, strength, and relaxation.

Shannon Fitzgerald
Chief Curator

Ruby Osorio Panel Discussio: Thursady May 12, 2005
Panel Discussion with Shannon Fitzgerald, Ruby Osorio, Sue Spaid, and Tyler Stallings
6:00 pm reception, 7:00 pm lecture, Free

Ruby Osorio: Story of a Girl (Who Awakes Far, Far and Away) is organized by Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and curated by Shannon Fitzgerald.