Rebecca Rutstein: Topographies of Time

REBECCA RUTSTEIN: Topographies of Time

REBECCA RUTSTEIN: Topographies

of Time

February 5 - March 20, 2021

“As a multidisciplinary artist who often collaborates with scientists, travels on expeditions at sea to create works that shed light on the natural world, works with data, and tries to connect the viewer with places and processes hidden from view, this body of work is an inward pivot – each painting, a personal meditation. I hope to capture these distortions of time, flurry of emotions, fluctuations as I drag the paintbrush to the beat of my own breath. Time is passing, a time less linear and more dimensional.”

–Rebecca Rutstein, 2021

Rebecca Rutstein

Topographies of Time

Philadelphia based artist, Rebecca Rutstein, explores abstraction inspired by her interest in geology, microbiology, marine science and the undercurrents that continually shape the physical world. Her paintings incorporate structural networks that articulate patterns found in nature, data, maps, micro and macro, handmade and mechanized, linear and solid. These visual experiences shed light on places and processes normally hidden from view and engage the viewer with a heightened connection to these enigmatic worlds. Through ongoing collaborations with scientists, much of her recent work has focused on mapping data of the deep sea seeking to illuminate a hidden world.

In her new series of work, Topographies of Time, Rutstein’s language of abstraction and exploration of hidden networks pivots inward, as she reflects on the impact of recent events on our experience of global interconnectedness. She suggests that our shared experience of time has shifted, stretched, bent and slowed, or alternately become frantic in fits and starts, as normalcy has been superseded by world events. Many of Rutstein’s paintings incorporate cellular networks of forms, lines or bands of colors that reveal an experience of time that is changing, elongating and warping as routines shift and days blur their boundaries. The series is a record of altering emotional states during the global pandemic: feelings of containment, anxiety, gratitude and new possibilities.

With over 25 solo exhibitions, Rebecca Rutstein has exhibited widely in museums, institutions and galleries throughout the United States and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her work is in the public collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Temple University, Johns Hopkins Hospital & Albert Einstein College of Medicine, among others. Public commissions include Convergence, AT&T/Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA, 2019 and Sculptural Commission, Yale University, Yale Science Building, New Haven, CT, 2019 and numerous others.

Rebecca Rutstein holds a BFA from Cornell University (with study abroad in Rome) and an MFA from University of Pennsylvania. She has been a visiting artist at museums and universities across the US and enjoys speaking about the intersection of art and science.

of Time IV

Topographies of Time VII

of Time I

EDUCATION

MFA University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1997

BFA Painting (Magna Cum Laude) Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1993

Cornell in Rome, Abroad Studies Program, Rome, Italy 1992

AWARDS

National Academies of Science / Keck Futures Initiative, Ocean Memory Project Seed Grant, 2020-21

Edna Andrade Fund/Philadelphia Foundation Grant Recipient for BioArt Residency with Science Center, 2020-21 City of Philadelphia Resolution “Honoring Rebecca Rutstein for her Dedicated Service through Art”, Oct 2019 Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding, University of Georgia, 2018-19

University of Pennsylvania, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities Seed Grant, 2019

MIT Ocean Discovery Fellow, MIT Media Labs, Ocean Exploration Forum 2018

National Academies of Science / Keck Futures Initiative - Ocean Memory Workshops, Invited Collaborator, 2017-20 California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks Exhibition Prize, 2017

PUBLIC ART PROJECTS & COMMISSIONS

Ridge & Valley, Bower Sculpture Park, Shermans Dale, PA, 2020 Interstices, Bower Sculpture Park, Shermans Dale, PA 2020

Convergence, AT&T / Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA 2019

Sculptural Commission, Yale University, Yale Science Building, New Haven, CT 2019 Synthesis, Cynwyd Elementary School, Bala Cynwyd, PA 2019

Shimmer, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 2018

SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Solo Exhibition, Esther Klein Gallery, Science Center, Philadelphia, PA Aug – Sept 2021 (upcoming)

Topographies of Time, Sherry Leedy Contemporary, Kansas City, MO Feb – Mar 2021 Site Unseen, Space Gallery, Denver, CO Aug – Sept 2020

Shift, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, (virtual) June 2020

Out of the Darkness, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA Nov 2018 – Oct 2019

Artist at Sea, University of Rhode Island, Ocean Science & Exploration Ctr, Narragansett, RI April – May 2019 Hidden from View, Sherry Leedy Contemporary, Kansas City, MO June-Aug 2018 Convergence, John Hartell Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Aug-Sept 2017

32 Degrees Latitude, California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks, Thousand Oaks, CA June-Aug 2017 Fault Lines, Zane Bennett Contemporary / Form & Concept, Santa Fe, NM June-Aug 2017

Hidden Landscapes, Video Exhibition, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA June-Sept 2016

Afterglow, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA April-May 2015

Breaking Boundaries, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum Restaurant, Philadelphia, PA 2004

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

The Shaping of America, The Painting Center, New York, NY, June 2021

The Anniversary Show, Sherry Leedy Contemporary, Kansas City, MO, Nov 2020 – Jan 2021

Covimetry, XS Gallery, University of Kielce, Poland, Oct 2020

Covimetry, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw, Poland, Sept 2020

Journeys through Water, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, April – Oct 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19) Artist at Sea, Schmidt Ocean Institute, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, Feb 2020

The Shaping of America, AnnMarie Sculpture Garden, Solomons, Maryland, Sept – Oct 2019

Depth, Michigan Science Center & Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit, MI, June-Aug 2019

Waterworks, Long Beach Island Foundation of Arts & Science, Loveladies, NJ July – Aug 2019

Aqua Miami Art Fair, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Miami, FL, Dec 2018

Benefit Exhibition for the Rail Park, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Sep – Oct 2018

Annual Exhibition, form & concept, Santa Fe, NM, July – Sept 2018

Ties that Bind, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY, June – July 2018

Kaleidoscope: Harbor, Bay, Ocean; A Voice for Conservancy, Bristol Art Museum (RI), April – June 2018

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Georgia Museum of Art

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum

Yale University

University of New Mexico

University of Washington

Temple University

Bower Sculpture Park

Johns Hopkins Hospital

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Fox Chase Cancer Center

AT&T

Delta Airlines

PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Hines / One Shell Plaza

Nordstrom

Deloitte

Glenmede Trust

Biogen Idec

Ocean Exploration Trust

Schmidt Ocean Institute

Philadelphia Phillies (Marlon Byrd)

Wirb-Copernicus Group

Tierney Communications

Temple University, The Fox School of Business

Temple University, Pearson McGonigle Hall

Historic Landmarks for Living

Trebuchet Consulting

335 Bala Apartments

Lower Merion School District

Narberth Dentistry

Laudenbach Periodontics

The Boston Consulting Group

Community Foundation of Louisville

Philadelphia Construction & Management

Primavera Systems

Packard Press

VISITING ARTIST / LECTURES / INTERVIEWS

Stanford University, Laser Talk Series, Stanford, CA, Oct 2020

Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, April 2020

University of Washington, Seattle, WA, April 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19)

Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, April 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19)

Bala Cynwyd Middle School, Bala Cynwyd, PA Feb 2020

Girl Scouts of America, Women in S.T.E.A.M., Nov 2019

GREATPHL 2019 Live interview and Podcast, Philadelphia, Oct 2019

St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA Sept 2019

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Sept 2019

University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, April 2019

Institute of Contemporary Art (studio tour), Philadelphia, PA, April 2019

“Technycal – Women in Technology” Podcast with Christiane Paul, Whitney Museum Curator of Digital Art, 2019

Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding, University of Georgia, 2018-19

Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI, June 2018