May 28–July 2, 2009
Opening Thursday, May 28, 6–8pm
Mixed Greens is thrilled to present A(MY) MIDNIGHT SUN A.A. Rucci’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. This show is a departure from the figurative mini-epics that have dominated Rucci’s oeuvre and exhibitions for the past ten years. In this new body of work, Rucci engages abstraction and offers us unadulterated access into his private celebration of life.
Over the last year, Rucci has focused on symbolic, hard-edge abstraction, full of interwoven shape and color, to induce an immediate emotional response. The open-ended experience is created by his use of palette, pattern and surface sheen. The relationships, however, are not loose and go beyond the formal. Every wedge and color is referential to both a specific space and time. Amusement parks, bridges, vineyards, palaces and a restaurant are sources for the intensely personal narrative.
Rucci’s use of pattern is inspired by the shifting perspectives of late Medieval and early Renaissance art, and, more importantly, is directly rooted in his embrace of the urban landscape of New York, the grandeur of the Austrian countryside and his absolute delight in meeting and marrying his wife, Amy, last year. He openly states that this show is a love letter to her.
With that in mind, Rucci’s move away from illustrative and nostalgic figures to emotionally charged patterns and colors is an overt expression of the immediacy and beauty of life. Standing among the dimensional paintings, with their tailored spaces and rhythmic colors, the viewer finds him/herself physically and emotionally situated. And the single perspective multiplies. A gentle melancholy grounds the paintings in reality, while the more playful and romantic passages highlight an exuberant sincerity and optimism.
A catalog including essays by David Cohen and Alison Hearst, as well as interviews with Odili Donald Odita and Jade Dellinger, will accompany the exhibition.
A.A. Rucci was born in Oberammergau, Germany. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include Mixed Greens, New York (2005, 2007); Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston (2006); Ambrosino Gallery, Miami (2003, 2004, 2007); and AR Contemporary, Milan, Italy (2005, 2007). Recent group venues include Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago; Florida Atlantic University Ritter Art Gallery, Boca Raton, FL; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; and White Box in New York City.
