July Issue 2002
Tippy Stern Fine Art in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Brian Rutenburg
One of South Carolina's native talents, artist Brian Rutenberg returns from his scintillating career in New York City to mount a solo exhibition of landscape paintings at the Tippy Stern Fine Art Gallery in Charleston, SC. The exhibition entitled, Brian Rutenberg New Works, will be on view through July 19, 2002.
Over the last ten years, Rutenberg's successful rise within the New York gallery scene has brought his rich and thickly hued landscapes national and international recognition and acclaim. Currently represented by New York's prestigious Forum Gallery, Rutenberg follows his Tippy Stern Fine Art exhibition with his West Coast debut at Forum's Los Angeles gallery this July.
Born in 1965, in Myrtle Beach, SC, and schooled at the College of Charleston, which he then followed with his MFA at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Rutenberg has consciously maintained his presence within the cultural and natural environment of Coastal Carolina. His Lowcountry experiences are a source of inspiration for his landscapes, saturated with the aesthetic look and feel of black water wetlands and estuary vegetation, which he interprets through his painterly abstractionist brushwork. His tree and vine filled imagery, along with his damp and fecund sense of atmosphere, resonates to Carolinians as well as audiences elsewhere of the opulent beauty of his coastal roots.
In his recent interview on the SC Public Radio talk show, Talkabout, Rutenberg said this about the influence of South Carolina's coastal waterways: "There is a certain beauty that I find around bodies of water, especially rivers and ponds. And then having grown up between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, in the Lowcountry, this plays a vital part not only in the look of my work, but in the commerce and culture of the area. There are also a great number of symbolic associations with water such as purity and transcendence. I like to think of water as a kind of transfer point between two separate worlds. One being the real world on the land; and the other being the liquid world, which to me represents the world of the imagination. It's at that point where they meet and mingle that interesting things can happen."
Rutenberg's current exhibition, his second show at Tippy Stern Fine Art, is notable for his movement towards a less abstract and slightly more traditional exploration of the landscape genre. The painter has counterbalanced this creative choice by brightening his tertiary palette to include flourishes of primary colors, making his new canvases snap with a lively sense of vibrancy. Tippy Stern-Brickman, owner and director of Tippy Stern Fine Art says this of Rutenberg's new direction: "Brian's work has been moving in this wonderful direction - the color and stunning landscape qualities are inspirational. This is truly beautiful work and we are honored to be able to share Brian and his amazing paintings once again with Charleston and those who love Brian Rutenberg and his work."
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, contact Natalie Pruner, Gallery Manager, or Tippy Stern-Brickman at 843/534-0028, e-mail at (tippyb@earthlink.net), or on the web at (www.TippySternFineArt.com).
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