Lefebvre & fils Gallery presents Brie Ruais' first European solo show, Dugout, from 22 October until 20 December 2014, in collaboration with Nicole Klagsbrun, New York, and conceived by Gilles Renaud.

New York artist, Brie Ruais explores the material capacities of clay in a process that merges performance with sculpture, the figurative with the abstract and the sensual with the spiritual.

Brie Ruais’s work is a corporeal experience characterized by three constant rules: an amount of clay equal to her weight, total absence of tools and a preliminary written set of instructions for each piece.
Her works of art retain the memory of being occupied - they exist as both gestures and images of gestures, simultaneously fluid and frozen.

For her first solo show in Europe, Brie Ruais refers her works to archaic customs. Dugout describes the literal action she uses to create some of her works and to the act of excavation.
Dugout is also the name of the first canoe made by carving out a log, a small trench below field level or spaces underground to take shelter which reminds the artist of Lefebvre & fils Gallery’s architecture. So many dugout objects that refer back to our origins.

ABOUT BRIE RUAIS

Born in 1982, Brie Ruais received her MFA from Columbia University’s School of Arts in 2011. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York where the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery represents her. Her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, Toronto, Brussels and New Zealand. Her work has been discussed in The New York Times, ArtNews, Artforum and The New Yorker, among others.

ABOUT LEFEBVRE & FILS GALLERY

Established in 1880 by Henri Lefebvre, Lefebvre & fils Gallery is dedicated to old and modern ceramics from France and Europe. Located on rue du Bac in the curators’ and art collectors’ favourite area of Paris, Lefebvre & fils Gallery has contributed to the greatest private and public collections in France, as well as all over the world. Wellknown for its expertise, Lefebvre & fils Gallery is now oriented towards contemporary art under the influence of director, Louis Lefebvre.

Informed collector of art and design, Louis Lefebvre made the jump in 2009 to bring together his passion and profession and show the consistency and the relevance of ceramics in contemporary art.

Lefebvre & fils Gallery was the first French gallery to exhibit American artist Robin Cameron and Korean-American artist Jennie Jieun Lee.