Rebecca Rutstein Bio
Philadelphia-based artist Rebecca Rutstein – whose work spans painting, installation, sculpture and public art – explores geometric abstraction with a vision inspired by science, data and maps. Seeking out geologically-rich environments, Rutstein has been an artist in residence in Iceland, Hawaii, the Canadian Rockies and Vermont, and most recently on board scientific research vessels from the Galápagos Islands to Southern California and from Vietnam to Guam.
Rutstein’s work expands upon her interest in geology, biology, maps and the undercurrents that continually shape and reshape our world. For Rutstein, these forces, from gradual erosion to violent upheaval, are powerful metaphors for life experiences and the ebbs and flows of relationships. Her paintings and installations become mappings where scale is shifted and obscured, articulating fractal patterns found in nature. Rutstein constructs spaces through juxtapositions: micro and macro, graphic and atmospheric, organic and geometric, positive and negative, manual and mechanical, linear and solid. She is continually challenged by creating environments that bridge these polarities.
Rutstein has exhibited extensively in galleries, institutions and museums throughout the United States and has received numerous grants including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and an Independence Foundation Fellowship. She has garnered recent attention through interviews and features on NPR, Huffington Post and Vice Magazine, and her work can be found in public collections including Johns Hopkins Hospital, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Temple University. Rutstein holds a BFA from Cornell University (with abroad study in Rome) and an MFA from University of Pennsylvania. She is currently represented by Bridgette Mayer Gallery (Philadelphia), Zane Bennett Contemporary/Form & Concept (Santa Fe), and Sherry Leedy Contemporary (Kansas City).