South Carrollton Avenue, from the series "The Offing"

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Artist/Maker Casey Ruble (American, born 1973)

Date2012

MediumPaper collage

DimensionsSheet: 8 7/8 × 5 3/4 in. (22.5 × 14.6 cm) Frame: 13 3/8 × 10 1/2 × 3/4 in. (34 × 26.7 × 1.9 cm)

Credit LinePurchased with funds donated by David Nathans '72 and Michael Shapiro '71 in honor of Lettie Tourville

Object number2013.4.1

Not on view

DescriptionThe artist Casey Ruble creates intricate paper collages that depict locations of particular historical significance—typically, a significance that has been forgotten or erased. The artist writes that her collages are “imbued with a psychological tension that hints at a charged history.” Her work begins not in the studio but with extensive historical and archival research, even before she visits a site. She then documents the physical environment through photography, attempting to capture its current atmosphere. Once she has selected one of the images—not always a noteworthy one, often quite mundane—on which to base her collage, she uses an X-Acto knife to cut out numerous pieces of solid-colored paper, which she then layers on top of one another to build up the composition from the background. To place the pieces, many of which are extremely small, Ruble frequently uses surgical tweezers. South Carrollton Avenue is from a series called “The Offing,” made between 2012 and 2014. All the works in the series depict locations in New Orleans, where the artist lived in the mid-1990s; in contrast to their often vivid colors, the images touch on the displacement of bodies—both living and dead. South Carrollton Avenue depicts the site of an orphanage that no longer exists, and other collages in the series depict exhumed cemeteries and places where murderers hid the bodies of their victims. This collage is one of a number by Ruble that were included in the Wellin Museum’s Fall 2013 exhibition A Sense of Place. It was subsequently purchased for the collection with funds donated by David Nathans, Class of 1972 (former director of the Emerson Gallery), and Michael E. Shapiro, Class of 1971, H2016, in honor of Lettie Tourville, a dedicated Hamilton College employee who supervised the Root Art Center for over a decade and also worked at the Emerson. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017) From the series "The Offing". Based in New Orleans, where the artist once lived, depicts disinterred or built-over cemeteries, murder-victim body-drop sites, and former orphanages. The works investigate the displacement of bodies at the beginning of life and after death. Many of theses places show no sign of their complicated past, bringing to light the essentially transient nature of most spaces. The artist emplys a labor-intensive process in which every element - no matter how small - is made from cut paper. "By depicting seemingly innocuous locations with a heightened degree of specificity," Ruble says, "I allude to deeper, disquieting narratives." Each intimate collage has a specific palette inspired by the feeling of the place, and the often-discordant colors act to acentuate a sense of tension in the works.

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Additional Details

Exhibition History 2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 130, illus.);

2013
Clinton NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "A Sense of Place", September 28 - December 22, 2013 (unnumbered cat., illus., 93);

New Orleans, LA (The Fine Arts Foundation Gallery). "Casey Ruble: The Offing," Febuary 23 - April 10, 2013 (unpaginated cat., illus.).

Provenance 2013: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by purchase from The Foundation Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 282;

Tracy Adler, ed., A SENSE OF PLACE (exh. cat. Clinton, NY, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, 2013), 92, illus., 93.

CASEY RUBLE: THE OFFING (exh. cat. New Orleans, LA, The Fine Arts Foundation Gallery, 2013), illus..

Signature Signed "Casey Ruble" on frame verso at upper left in black pen.

Inscribed "South Carrollton Avenue (2012)" on frame verso at upper center in black pen.