In his new exhibition, titled after Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Drowse Murmurs” (1965)—a representative line: “I lick my own mind observe the pipe / crawling up the brick wall, see picture / room-sides hung with nails emblem / abstract oil funny glyphs”—Sterling Ruby presents the contradictions that have shaped his life. With new drawings, sculptures, paintings, and ceramics, the artist parallels contrasts of his lived experience—such as his father’s involvement in the military and his family’s ties to hippie subculture—to “the dialectic between war and peace, destruction and beauty.” Showing monochrome drawings for the first time, Ruby moves between past and present, asking burning questions and meditating on the current state of the world. —Jeanne Malle