Opening Reception with the Artist
First Friday, September 4th, 6 - 8:30 pm*
In the Vault Room:
Rebecca Rutstein
"1,000 paces"
*The Artist received a 2009 Independence Foundation Artist Fellowship to fund this exhibition.
The Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to announce its fifth solo exhibition of painter, Rebecca Rutstein. Precipice will be on view from September 1 – September 26, 2009, with an opening reception First Friday, September 4th, from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. The exhibition will feature ten large-scale paintings and a vault room installation incorporating small paintings and vinyl wall graphics.
Rebecca Rutstein's latest body of work is a visual manifestation of the artist's recent emotional journey which has left her trying to surface and come up for air. Her past explorations of an underwater environment have taken on new meaning in this series. She relates the unfolding chaos in her life to the feeling of being submerged, and has articulated this sensation through an emphasis on scale and verticality in this series of bold, underwater landscapes. Incorporating topographical maps, fractal elements, abstract shapes and natural forms, the artist has created multi-layered vistas full of depth and dimension. Often utilizing an analogous color scheme in an individual work, Rutstein seamlessly combines both graphic and painterly sensibilities into coherent, dynamic compositions, which ultimately result in a calming, rather than chaotic, effect.
Rebecca Rutstein received her M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and her B.F.A. from Cornell University in 1993. The artist has completed several residencies including the Red Cinder Artist Colony (Na'alehu, Hawaii), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, Canada) and the Vermont Studio Center. She has been a visiting artist at a number of institutions, including Moore College of Art and Design, University of Texas, and Swarthmore College. Rutstein was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts (2004), a Bridgette Mayer Travel Grant (2005), a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grant (2006), a Pew Professional Development Grant (2007), and an Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts (2009). She has had numerous exhibitions including solo shows at the Philadelphia International Airport, Sylvia White Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), and Fleisher Art Memorial (Challenge Exhibition).
Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. & by appointment. For additional information please contact Bridgette Mayer at (p) 215-413-8893 (f) 215-413-2283