Grounding, Prevent from Flying
LaPau Gallery is pleased to present its inaugural exhibition Grounding, Prevent from Flying, a site-specific installation by artist and designer Gabriela Ruiz created to engage the viewer’s senses and presence in body and space. Ruiz, known for her vibrant and dynamic installations that invite the viewer into other worlds, composes a new exhibition of sand, sound, color saturation, and hyper-intimacy of the gallery space. Through an immersive stimulation of the physical senses, the exhibition raises poignant questions about body regulation and the mind’s struggle with emotional tension amidst a continuum of reflections with past, present, and future selves.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Gabriela Ruiz (b. 1991) has presented her work in art institutions, nightlife venues, and through public interventions. Solo exhibitions include Full of Tears at Vincent Price Art Museum (2019). Group exhibitions include Shattered Glass (2021) at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. You don't control the witness at ltd Los Angeles (2019) and Ecdysis at ltd los angeles and Museum aan de Stroom (Antwerp, Belgium) (2019); Liberate the Bar! Queer Nightlife, Activism, and Spacemaking at ONE Gallery (West Hollywood, CA) (2019); Pasado Mañana at Commonwealth and Council (Los Angeles, CA) (2018); and Building Bridges in Times of Walls: Chicano/Mexican Art from Los Angeles to Mexico at Gran Galería de Acapulco (2019), Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños (2019), Museo de las Artes de la Universidad de Guadalajara (2019-2020), and Centro Cultural Tijuana (2020). Her performance Cruz Azul was presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2018, where she also collaborated with artist rafa esparza on his exhibition de la Calle. Named after her moniker “Leather Papi,” Ruiz’s fashion line was founded in 2014 and includes gender-neutral designs inspired by BDSM culture and mixes kink, queer, and Mexican iconographies. She has been the subject of digital and print features in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, GOOD Magazine, Hyperallergic, KCET, and Remezcla, among others.
