Brian Rutenberg – Artist News

BRIAN RUTENBERG, Looming Pine 6, 2018
Oil on Paper, 30 x 22.5 Inches Framed
$8,000

New York based Brian Rutenberg’s painting presents the landscape in the same way he learned to see it, by lying on his belly with his chin in the dirt, foreground so close he can taste it and background far away. No middle ground. Seeing from a bug’s-eye view instantly compresses space, like closing an accordion, and makes the viewer complicit in reconstructing the landscape; Rutenberg provides the close-up and the far away, and the viewer supplies the middle… More »

My wife Katie is a physician treating Covid patients at Mt Sinai West in NYC and acted preemptively by having my kids and me quarantine at our little place on the east end of Long Island. She took extreme precautions to avoid exposing us and also wanted to lower the risk of us infecting her and then her patients. Her resolve and calm in a crisis is exemplary, as is her sense of duty. My kids have a hero for a mom. We miss her SO MUCH. 

I’m often asked the secret to my success as an artist. The secret to my success as an artist was marrying the right person. The love and stability of a good marriage to a self-reliant spouse can knock the legs out from under any problem the world can fling at your windshield. It was the most important decision of my life, and I nailed it.  

I am making pencil tree drawings during quarantine. 

Every year I try to learn new things, and this year was no different. Lately, it’s been Tai Chi, cooking, and planting new flower beds. Despite all, feeling fortunate.