Ruby Cruel

NEW RUBY RESIDENT >>> Multidisciplinary artist Luke Drozd has touched down from Norway and we’re excited to have him here. Luke has many lights hidden under his bushel but for us he has been working on a curated exhibition on artists as collectors.

Join us next Friday for the opening of ‘The Thingness of Stuff’. The exhibition looks at the nature of obsession and gathering via personal collections and archives – and connections which form through these between seemingly unconnected ‘things’.

Friday January 13th, 6-9pm. Ruby Cruel, 250 Morning Lane, London, E9 6RQ. Come see the show and drink a beverage with us! All welcome. No reservation needed.

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Luke Drozd is an artist and cultural producer originally from the UK now based in Bergen, with a multi-disciplinary practice including sound, film, performance, text and print using processes of collage, collecting and collaborative improvisation. His work is interested in the forgotten, the lost and the overlooked, the background noise and the story rarely told. From a starting point of collecting and archiving, he builds works that re-contextualises these findings into something new. Themes of psychogeography, local history and non-linear storytelling are central to this practice.
 
He has exhibited and performed in galleries, DIY spaces, festivals and museums internationally and is a member of studio collective Den Uferdige Institusjonen. Recent work has included a site-specific audio installation at Bergenhus festning commissioned by Hordaland kunstsenter (2022) and solo shows at Trykkeriet, Bergen Kjøtt and Østre (2022-2025) and Galleri Ask (Åsgårdstrand, NO, 2025), as well as studio residencies at USF Verftet (NO), Bergen Senter for Electronisk Kunst (NO), Kiosken (NO), Mustarinda (FI) and Leveld (NO).

STICKER DROP >>> The newest Ruby Cruel sticker kindly designed for us by artist Charlie Godet Thomas is here. **Glows in the dark!** Available in the Ruby Cruel gallery shop or send us a DM to buy yours.

OPEN CRUEL TAKEAWAY TAKEOVER>>> You will see from my photos that I have adopted the uniformity of typology through my photographic style. This is because I want my series of photographs of Chinese takeaways to be a permanent record of their existence, and in essence, frozen in time.

As Chinese takeaways are slowly vanishing from our streets, I would like my typology to be available for future generations to analyse and discuss. I also chose to photograph Chinese takeaways in a typological style to challenge the ignorant remarks that were often directed at me when I was growing up: “You Chinese all look the same”. This was during a time when diversity was less celebrated. Remarks like these, made it much more difficult for me to assimilate into a British identity without feeling marked by my heritage. Now, through my art, I am reflecting on this experience of being made to feel ‘different’ by showing that although the visual perception of Chinese takeaways can all appear to be the same, when you look closely, you will see that they are all in fact, unique.

OPEN CRUEL TAKEAWAY TAKEOVER>>> My art is about preserving an important part of British Chinese cultural heritage and reconciling my dual cultural identity.

The Chinese takeaways that my family owned while I was growing up in the 1980’s had a very similar aesthetic to the takeaways that I am photographing today. Each takeaway had a broad window frontage, decorated in a display of photos of the dishes that customers could order. The most prominent feature was the illuminated takeaway sign, which shone like a bright beacon during the long winter nights.