A Conversation with Ruby Greene: Her Imagined World and Her Teeth

By Marky Salvati | Images courtesy of the artist |

FLOORED (2024) Sony ZV-E10

Ruby Greene’s childhood dental work left her curious about teeth and the intimacy in seeing them—feeling them. Greene is a multimedia artist based in Chicago, IL, with tendencies towards assemblage with found objects. Her pieces mirror the accumulation formed at the bottom of her purse or Walter Wick’s notorious photography for the I SPY book series. 

Her assemblage techniques incorporate plastics and vintage toys, some of which she's held onto since childhood. In using found plastics, she explains that she “challenges worth.” This is especially interesting as her valuation of plastic as a medium sits in disagreement with society’s standing: plastic is a nuisance. Greene asks her viewer to look at the formal qualities in the material as applied to visual art, reminding us that these qualities exist in everything. The most commanding part of these assemblages is her ability to be concise, often using just a few elements. 

Trophy Wife Found Object, Dental Stone. FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY Plastic, Tape

Greene’s current work is focused on the body. She has created prosthetics, pierced tights and taken molds of teeth—one set is even cast in butter. The actions involved in these processes create a sense of performance, giving the work an implied narrative or backstory. Greene’s interest in teeth comes from years of dental work, where she got to know the topic personally. She explains that someone's teeth are the most permanent part of them. Greene says that “teeth aren't given credit” for the history and memory they hold, highly specific to each person. Her interest in teeth manifests through replicating her own, she explains that teeth represent control, or a lack thereof. One particular work called Trophy Wife stands out, a two piece assemblage involving a female miniature, dressed in red, engulfed by the concave roof of a replicated mouth. 

Greene’s work sits in an uncanny space, blending the lines between performance, object making and photography. It leaves the viewers wondering how objects interact with the real world- whereas Greene presents them in her own imagined world. One project called Periodically: A Dream Scape presents gnarly prosthetics, pierced with nipple jewelry, made collaboratively with another artist, Leo Hughes. Greene presents this object alone, then affixed to her back, providing it context in her imagined reality. It is in this space that Ruby assembles objects, performs with them and is thoughtfully photographed. When asked to define this space, Greene couldn't identify it either. 

What is apparent: Greene’s assemblage, teeth, and performative space exist outside a typical visual art context. Each object she creates is just one character in Greene’s fairytale. When asked about specifics, Greene explains that she has a personal attachment to every choice she makes. By carefully selecting intimate memorabilia, she pays tribute to familial ties and childhood memory while carefully crafting something brand new: the imagined world of Ruby Greene.

Spike Prosthetic   Scar wax, metal (made in collaboration with Leo Hughes)

Check out the rest of Ruby Greene’s work:

 https://rubygreene.com/home.html 

Keep an eye on her on Instagram:  @ruby_gr33ne