Brian Rutenberg: Palmetto

Calabash, 2007, oil on linen, 88 x 56 inches. © Courtesy of the Artist and Forum Gallery.

Rutenberg describes the exhibition: “Palmetto is a reference to my native South Carolina, but these paintings are not really about the Carolina landscape. I chose the title because I believe in the power of art that has strong ties to a specific place but also has universal berth…. My imagination was formed along the coast of South Carolina however, my paintings are not about reliving an experience but the total possessing of it.”

Rutenberg also explains that this recent body of work is heavily influenced by Cubism, which he calls the “delicious conflict between naturalism and abstraction or… bending the laws of nature to fit the laws of art.” He describes Cubism as the process that seeks to reconcile the use of color to render form, versus color as form. This process is prominently and constantly at work in Rutenberg’s landscapes. [Read more...]

Forum Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue at 57^th Street, Fifth Floor. The exhibition continues through Saturday April 19, 2008.
www.forumgallery.com