Haitian Prayer Painting

PRESENT TENSE: I feel so privileged to call myself an experimental "Fusion" artist who is ever evolving; My technique is trying to blend everything, into a fusion collage that incorporates every technique that I love and that makes sense to me, into one unifying easel painting. AN ECLECTIC SYMPHONY, IF YOU WIILL. Why must artists limit themselves to one genre? Why not combine as many that speak loud and clear to the "art spirit" ( Thank you, Robert Henri.) ? I build on the fundamentals of figurative and portrait technique, honoring old masters and new, in particular, Modernism and Expressionism. Fusing all that I have learned, I use traditional materials to create work that aspires to be cutting edge but at the same time accessible to the viewer. My work is inspired and influenced by the Kabbalah, by Biblical motifs, by the world of ideas, by the unifying spirituality in all things.. In my paintings I often weave Hebrew calligraphy, ancient Canaanite symbols or poems --great messages from the world at large. Each of my paintings, whether it has a specific theme or is a pure abstraction, is a prolonged meditation, whether drawing on the power of the written word, or on a powerful biblical story, or the Kabbalah, which basically influences all my work. ~ PAST TENSE: I am guided by this profound message from the past: 'I am all that has been, and that is, and that shall remain, and no one unworthy has ever unraveled, loosened, or even touched the surface of my woven veil.' - ANONYMOUS. From a carving on an ancient statue of Pallas Athena-- cited in Plutarch's Lives. Naive or not, for me, this ancient graffiti expresses what timeless Art should be about: It is my credo when I start each new painting, as I aim for total artistic integrity: Which for me, translates to hands-on work that involves the artist's honest touch and commitment. FUTURE TENSE: Today is the day-- today is all that we have. The painting that is on my easel, is my chance to strike out and create something something entirely new. ~ ruthrifka1@gmail.com ~ CURRENT WORK-IN-PROGRESS -- ~ A feminist series of paintings depicting the biblical "Dinah", and "Jacob's Missing Daughters". ~ A series inspired by Kabbalah. ~A series exploring Canaanite symbols and early Hebraic writing. ~