Sterling Ruby, a multidisciplinary artist who makes urethane and bronze sculptures, hallucinatory color-field canvases, and handmade ceramics, addresses the conflict between individual desire and social structure, and the influence of institutional architecture, both literal and figurative, on human behavior and psychology. In 2011 Ruby presented “Vampire,” an exhibition that explored the vampire as an archetypal seductive predator, standing in for the uncontrollable and insatiable drives that inform the darker aspects of human behavior, particularly that of Americans.