| Ruth
Bernard artist  painter |
||
|
Main
|
Artist's Statement I paint in the modernist tradition following the lineage of Cezanne, Mattise and Soutein. I see my work as an expression of the act of painting not merrily a recording of images. I begin my paintings in a state of unknowing and through the act of painting I discover the subject and content. I search for the essence of my subject. Therefore, the level of abstraction may vary according to a response to the material before me. Still life and landscape are used as a vehicle to express a world confused, tense, and filled with aggression and verging on violence. I describe a world on the edge of chaos. Consequently, I use a twisting and turning description of space. Distortion and exaggeration strong color and texture add to the total picture. Even the most peaceful pastoral scene is often riddled with turmoil. Fequently the paintings begin with a brilliant red or yellow ground that pulsates to activate the surface from the first phase of the work. A thick textured surface is progressively built up representing the physically embodiment of this world. My art offers a passionate interpretation rather than a replication of what I see. I believe that my work has a unique vision and quality that the viewer responds to strongly. Over the years my work has changed, developed and gotten more complex although a strong connection to the history of painting remains strong. As a young student of the arts I developed an affiliation with the expressionists such as Van Gogh and Van Doggen. I often return to the Yale Art Gallery to visit the "Night Cafe". Then later as an art student in the early 1970's my interests in expressionism continued as I learned about the artists of the Abstract Expressionist era such as De Kooning and Guston. My most current body of work consists of larger still-life paintings that are often based on the paintings of the early American painter Severin Roesen. Roesen is a painter that immigrated first to New York and then to Williamsport where he remained until his death. Painting in the late 1800 Roesen styles is greatly indebted to the Dutch style of still life from the early part of the century. The extremely lavish fruit and flower paintings have always intrigued me because of their over the top depiction of the bounty that the land provides to man. These extremely opulent depiction's seem particularly timely now in today's extravagant and hedonistic atmosphere. Instead of the fullness of the earths riches in Roesen's world I see a world of decadence and abuse of the earth and society. Steverin Roesen "At mid-century, with the influx of foreign artists into this country, there was a return to realism. The most famous of these immigrants was Severin Roesen, a German who came to Pennsylvania. Painted in the Dutch tradition, Roesen's decorative, stylized compositions had great appeal to Victorian taste." Cecily Langdale, American Still Lifes of the Nineteenth Century Roesen, Severin (Nature's Bounty) "A rich array of luscious fruit is artfully displayed in an unusual double-tiered format. The almost surreal arrangement of edibles with some partially peeled and some still bearing their leaves introduces a startling artifically to objects usually associated with the simplicity and naturalness. Such works by Roesen have been interpreted in the context of the natural abundance of the New World. However, this interpretations is connected with the seventeenth-century Dutch vanities tradition that experienced a revival in Roesen's native Germany, where he is thought to have been a porcelain painter. He emigrated to the United States in 1848, possibly, for political reasons, and established himself as a still-life specialist in New York City. For reasons unknown, he left New York and eventually settled in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he continued in his specialty and exerted considerable influence as a teacher." The American Art Book, Phaidon Press |
|