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CHARTA
Kathy Ruttenberg
Text by Donald Kuspit, Frédérique Joseph-Lowery, Terry Jones, Kathy Ruttenberg.
The fairytale sculptures of Chicago-born, New York-based artist Kathy Ruttenberg inhabit an allegorically charged world of unconscious drives, Ovidian transformations and feminist-inflected narratives. Described by Donald Kuspit as "perhaps the most creative, certainly unusual, ceramic art being made today," Ruttenberg's work is populated with women sprouting or metamorphosing into trees, flowers, birds, snails, antlers and crabs. Figurines of demonic-looking caterpillars, bats and rabbits are intricately rendered in clay and watercolor, a three-dimensional counterpart to the paintings of Leonora Carrington. "The tools for my work are fire, earth and emotions," Ruttenberg writes. "This mix makes an interesting cocktail of allegory and symbolism, with an odd twist of nature. In my world, where the wind blows with intensity, animals and humans often share the moment." This first substantial monograph reveals the richness and craft of her intensely evocative personal/universal mythology.
Featured image is reproduced from Kathy Ruttenberg.
FROM THE BOOK
"Ms. Ruttenberg's latest efforts make her a force to contend with as a narrator and symbolist, a form maker and colorist. Coating sexual tensions with a storybook innocence, she works in a triangle bordered by Louise Bourgeois, Viola Frey and Beatrix Potter… She also draws on the centuries-old tradition of porcelain figurines while studiously ignoring all boundaries, especially those dividing insider and outsider; art and craft; and high, low and kitsch." - Roberta Smith, The New York Times
FORMAT: Hbk, 6.75 x 9.5 in. / 160 pgs / 165 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $47.50 LIST PRICE: CANADA $55 ISBN: 9788881588589 PUBLISHER: Charta AVAILABLE: 4/30/2013 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: No longer our product AVAILABILITY: Not available
Published by Charta. Text by Donald Kuspit, Frédérique Joseph-Lowery, Terry Jones, Kathy Ruttenberg.
The fairytale sculptures of Chicago-born, New York-based artist Kathy Ruttenberg inhabit an allegorically charged world of unconscious drives, Ovidian transformations and feminist-inflected narratives. Described by Donald Kuspit as "perhaps the most creative, certainly unusual, ceramic art being made today," Ruttenberg's work is populated with women sprouting or metamorphosing into trees, flowers, birds, snails, antlers and crabs. Figurines of demonic-looking caterpillars, bats and rabbits are intricately rendered in clay and watercolor, a three-dimensional counterpart to the paintings of Leonora Carrington. "The tools for my work are fire, earth and emotions," Ruttenberg writes. "This mix makes an interesting cocktail of allegory and symbolism, with an odd twist of nature. In my world, where the wind blows with intensity, animals and humans often share the moment." This first substantial monograph reveals the richness and craft of her intensely evocative personal/universal mythology.
