Eli Ruhala

White Columns
November 8 – December 20, 2025

A recent graduate of Texas Christian University, Ruhala makes large-scale site-specific paintings that incorporate architectural components and building materials as a means of excavating his experience growing up queer in the rural South. Writing about his practice, Ruhala has said, “As an artist drawing from an array of personal and collective experiences, my practice finds catharsis in repetitive gestures of love. (…) I’m interested in the ability to carve out a new sphere where the mutual action of keeping our hands busy persists.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a new conversation between Ruhala and the Dallas-based art historian and curator Abby Bryant. Click here to read the conversation.

Eli Ruhala (b. 2000) lives and works in Dallas, Texas.  He earned his BFA in painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA at Texas Christian University.  Earlier this year, Ruhala was selected by Matthew Higgs of White Columns, New York to participate in “Open University” at the Dallas Contemporary where he was also named the inaugural recipient of the McReynolds Prize.  In addition, Ruhala has received numerous grants and awards including Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund Award from the Dallas Museum of Art.