For artist Ruby Que, spoons are a metaphor in life and in their practice

Credit: Coco Picard

Editor’s note: Coco Picard spoke with Chicago artist Ruby Que about their exhibition “Holding” at the outdoor project space Bird Show. Edited text from the comic is transcribed here to ease readability.

Furthering Chicago’s long-standing tradition of artist-run apartment, outdoor, and itinerant exhibition venues: welcome to Bird Show, a seasonal gallery of juried contemporary art shows on writer and cultural worker Erin Toale’s porch. As stipulated by the exhibition call, “Objects displayed do not have to be functional but special consideration will be given to projects that provide amenities for the local ecosystem.” Exhibitions are accessed by appointment and virtually by livestream web camera and social media. 

Following precedents like Gabriel Chalfin-Piney’s bird “park” and bath, Lauren C. Sudbrink’s hanging wind chime seedballs, Ruby Que’s show “Holding” (September 3-17) presents a collection of handmade spoons. In the following interview, Que discusses their inspiration.

Ruby Que: “I am in love with spoons’ concave surfaces—so satisfying to touch, yet so hard to make to perfection. I think about spooning: how it becomes a commonly understood gesture of intimacy and caregiving. As a neurodivergent person, I use the spoon theory to negotiate capacity both within myself and others on a daily basis. 

“I am primarily a video and installation artist and something I’ve always had to grapple with in my work is distance. All I make are illusions. The spoon is almost the exact opposite of that—it’s a form that is meant to be touched, held, handled, shared. It feels like by creating voids (within the spoons), I’m actually attempting to fill a void in my practice.

“I am interested in seasonal, ephemeral, itinerant, and public space and Bird Show checks all these boxes (public in the sense that birds and squirrels can come and go freely, I suppose). I have also never shown my spoons as a body of work and being able to do so with Bird Show feels like a long time coming.”

“Holding”9/3-17: Sun noon-5 PM livestream, open by appointment, birdshowchicago@gmail.com, birdshowchicago.com