Richard Rudich: Self and Ceremony

Opening reception and Artists Talk
Friday July 13, 5:30 pm
Artist Talk 6:00 pm
Free and open the public

Refreshments served

Richard Rudich will be available at the gallery Saturday July 21, 4-7pm.

Richard Rudich. SELF AND CEREMONY:  Portraits of a vanished world

Artist Richard Rudich presents in this exhibit a look back at a time of calamitous change on this 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, (1914-1918).  Among the many consequences of the unprecedented upheavals of the Great War was a dramatic reordering of social status and identity, including the elimination of whole classes of people and redefining the roles of others.

Most of this work was first exhibited in the 1980’s.  Working from historic photographs of the royal families that dominated almost all of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century Rudich created three dimensional relief portraits in ceramic that are then glazed and painted.  The images were made in multiples but the painted backgrounds are unique, like old, hand colored photos. These portraits are not meant to celebrate the anachronistic social order of monarchy but rather to raise questions of the mechanisms that turn an individual into a symbol, and what happens when one’s culture and context are lost.

“I am completely aware of the oddness of doing an art work about violent war by employing images of such resounding domestic tranquility. The work was intended to comment on the War in ways that are not about the horrific destruction.  It tries to look at some of the norms of a time not that far removed from us in time but very far away in terms of consciousness, especially as it affects ideas of personal and national identity. “

About the artist

RICHARD RUDICH

Richard has been working as an artist and art educator for over thirty years. His painting and ceramics have been exhibited in New York, London, and the Hamptons and his work is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. At the Fieldston School in Riverdale he developed an architecture program for both middle and high school students and helped design programs integrating studio art with science and math.

He has frequently done projects in the decorative arts including a handmade tile floor for Martha Stewart and lamps and vases for Melrose House, a design company with showrooms around the country, including New York.  He often works with architects and designers on site-specific installations.

Richard was born in New York and has lived in the city for most of his life. He attended Columbia College and did graduate studies at the Columbia Architecture School and an M.F.A. at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee.  He has a home and studio in Livingston Manor.