RUBY ZARSKY
RULE 34
NOVEMBER 23, 2024 – JANUARY 18, 2025
OPENING RECEPTION: 7–10 PM, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024
PRESS RELEASE
Ceradon presents Rule 34, a solo exhibition by Ruby Zarsky exploring the fetishization of the trans body and relegation of trans persons to dark corners of the internet, spaces, and communities. Here, Zarsky draws out into the public sphere the often cloistered, cartoonish, and hyper-pornographic portrayal of trans women in porn, forcing viewers to confront their own discomforts with having to experience this hypersexualized content in the context of a gallery. Building upon the art historical discourse of erotica, Zarsky alludes to the contradictions of our current politics around trans bodies, where the states in the US that pass the most discriminatory and restrictive laws on trans people are often the ones that, according to statistics released by influential site and distributor PornHub, have the highest consumption of trans-related pornography. In the same casual vernacular used in trans-fetishist internet forums, Zarksy describes the exhibition:
Most of what you see I didnt come up with. To be honest I think this stuff is pretty depraved. I don’t need to get coffee with the practitioners of these images to know that they are unethical people. But still...there is an undeniable beauty, especially when I reinterpret the images. Because I’m a goddamn genius!
“Madonna” is actually from Rule 34 I think; but she didn’t have a dick. I gave her the dick. She needed it I guess. I suppose I am a bit depraved? Hah hah. The balls are so smooth. Right?
The redhead is interesting. Some freak called Kinky Jimmy made her. In KJ’s version she just looked too cisgender. So I widened her shoulders and ribcage. Her butt was flattened and inserted those little “hip dips” that plague us trans women. I even gave her a brow bone and a clocky nose job. I think she looks much more TRANS now. Don’t you?
And hey listen this isn’t even about trans women or identity or any of that bullshit.
It’s more about Ancient Greek vases that people used to jerk off to. They sit in climate-controlled boxes and nobody even gets an erection looking at them anymore.
It’s also about laws that say if I make a painting I’ll go to jail. Can you imagine being sentenced to death for touching a piece of fabric with some animal fur on a stick that is covered in pigmented goo? I can. It’s called the Inquisition, sweetie. Now that shit is depraved.
And hey, listen, if you can think of it somebody’s gonna do it. That’s what rule 34 is about. Rule 34 means freedom from censorship; it means freedom to think.
So think about this shit. Because there’s a lot here and I’m not sorry.
The exhibition will be only open at night during the run of the show.
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Ruby Zarsky (b. Morristown, NJ) is a New York City-based multi-disciplinary visual artist and musician. She received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from School of Visual Arts in 2009. She first became known in the early 2010s as one-half of the independent, queer pop band, Sateen. Heavily involved in the NYC LGBT nightlife club scene, Sateen’s music explores musical themes taken from the canon of gay music, such as house and disco. Additionally, Ruby used Sateen as a vehicle for activism on behalf of trans women.
In 2021, Sateen went on hiatus and Ruby returned her focus to visual arts. That year, she co-founded the experimental art gallery, O’Flaherty’s. At the gallery, she worked alongside artists (notably Ashley Bickerton, Gelatin, Bjarne Melgaard and Anthea Hamilton to name a few) to transform artworks into immersive installation-based experiences.
Simultaneously, Ruby began taking her studio practice, which consists primarily of painting, drawing and printmaking, more seriously. With her independent work she resumed the exploration of her queer and trans identity which she began with Sateen.
In 2023, Ruby produced two art performance events. The events took on the guise of pop-up strip clubs featuring topless dancing with only transgender women featured as the performers. These performances attempted to synthesize the themes found in her art while simultaneously utilizing her interest in experienced-based installations.
In February 2024, Ruby had her debut solo painting exhibition in Ridgewood, Queens at Intima, a DIY trans-run ephemeral performance space/gallery. V Magazine described the show as “a no- punches-held exploration of fetish, appropriation, gender, and beauty.”
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