ARTIST STATEMENT

 

My more recent work runs in clusters inspired by life as a woman
and fueled by personal experience. 'Remarkable Women' is a series that began
in 2006; inspired by the strength of women during the age of Tudor and how
it relates to women of the modern age. This is the umbrella under which
most of my work falls.

Having grown up in a dance environment with much exposure to NYC theatre,
I evolved the physical into the visual. Paintings are the act. Figures are frozen
in a strange performance; dressed to show. 'Backstage' has crashed into
the audience. Faces are wearing expressions that are unknown.
The spectator wonders why. What happened behind the curtain?
We are all running a show that no one else gets to see. Tuck it in,
push it back and play your part in the masquerade.

After I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2008, my work
took a more ominous turn. I am in an unknown world, suspended in a place
where a part of me might unexpectedly cease to work properly
at any given moment. Figures are leaning; almost falling. Missing limbs
and strange gazes are somewhat disturbing - depending on the
onlooker's point of view. Proportions aren't always what they should be in
this peculiar 'body' of work. These are 'Odd Women'.

In early 2009, I produced six paintings titled the 'In Series'.
'In' questions where I stand and where I might be going. Three of
these paintings experiment with a new look: abstract painting
fills the canvas, only to be blackened out to form a figure or figures.

In July of 2009, I began 'Egos'. Large heads fill the canvas. Using my most
favored mono-print method of filling a space with solid color and wiping away
the figure, giant heads have emerged. They are our complexities as humans. How small
we are, how insignificant, but our egos convince us otherwise. These paintings
are immediate; my whole body is involved when I paint. They are a work
out on a hot summer's evening.

My communication through art is a two dimensional process of working
& reworking all areas of the canvas. I repaint, redraw and reorganize spaces
and figures, often only partially erasing old attempts. I hope for the image to
change at any moment. Look and catch a glimpse of something. Turn away
and look again. Did something shift; in you or in the piece? Each work of art
is a complex journey that pulls me in and pushes me back out again. I prefer to
eliminate most distractions surrounding the performer. Areas of color or lack
of color allow the eye to focus on the moment. Airbrush graffiti will be incorporated
as yet another dynamic. It is important that the layers of texture, color
and paint hold the onlooker's eye; allowing for profound exploration.

 

 

 

Shari Weschler Rubeck
2009

 

Places of exhibit include: Boston, Block Island, RI, North Kingstown,
Rhode Island, Soho New York, Westchester NY, Washington DC and
Baltimore, MD.   I continue to take commissions for detailed
architectural renderings for Realtors and Homeowners.



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