Ruth Mordecai: New Works on Paper

Trident Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings, collages, and monotypes on paper by Ruth Mordecai. The gallery will host a public reception for the artist on Saturday, August 9, 5–7pm.  The artist will be at Trident Gallery for conversation Saturday, August 2, 5–7pm, and will lead a discussion of her work on Sunday, August 17, 5–6pm.

As seen across several media comprising this exhibition, Ruth Mordecai's creative accomplishment is enormous," said Judith Tolnick Champa, Editor-at-Large, Art New England. "She never ceases to explore.

In Ruth Mordecai's works on paper, most often black and white paint or collage defines sculptural forms, and added lines expand the work into pictorial space, exploring memory and spiritual resonance through cultural symbols such as apples, baskets, and ladders.  Color is spare but prominent.

Ms. Mordecai takes up philosophical and religious questions through a visual exploration of shared symbols," says Trident Gallery Director, Matthew Swift.  "Her works on paper embody exquisite sculptural tensions of gravity and balance, or else are sculptural forms imbued with the movement of painterly gesture.  Her love for the human form and for our spiritual relationships to shared symbols endow her work with depth and warmth.

Ms. Mordecai describes her process as "the stacking of various images that over the years have become the iconography of the work: Jacob's Ladder, the moon, apples, an ancient sun, a horizon line, a basket or wagon or figures in dance.

Ruth Mordecai earned a BFA and MFA from Boston University School for the Arts.  For 25 years she made sculpture and painted in Boston's Fort Point District.  For the last 15 years, she has painted in a studio on Rocky Neck in Gloucester.

Ruth Mordecai has shown in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC, and her art is in prestigious collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Israel Museum (Jerusalem, Israel); the Rose Art Museum; and the Wiggin Prints and Drawings Collection of the Boston Public Library.

Trident Gallery represents established artists on historic Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and is a gateway to the contemporary art of the region, serving clients who are starting or building collections. Through its ambitious and discerning programming, Trident Gallery has quickly become a leader of the vital arts scene on Cape Ann and a primary place to engage with the region's rich artistic legacy and continuing importance.