Ruth Lantz

Statement

I use paint processes to investigate how screens have shifted our understanding of space. Using landscape images as a signal for the history of illusionistic space, I merge landscape references with abstract techniques to create works that capture the tension between two virtual spaces—a painted substrate and a screen. Using applications that are both controlled and improvisational, I play with flatness vs. depth and opacity vs. transparency. Condensing the digital impression and the painterly gesture into one surface, I create an image that is at once familiar but also removed, thus challenging the viewer to question technology’s role in our perception of nature and space.

I utilize the landscape images that are presented to us as digital backdrops for our everyday experiences. MAC IOS desktop images, video games such as The Oregon Trail, and built wireframe environments serve as starting points for my paintings and works on paper. Using various combinations of acrylic paint, watercolor, spray applications, colored pencil and silkscreen I rely on methodical processes to construct my surfaces. These applications create luminous depth and imply texture but appear virtually flat mimicking images that have been spatially condensed and visually altered through technological programs.

Areas of Interest:  Landscape, Glitch Aesthetics, DataMoshing, Virtual Space, Computer Screen Savers, Hudson River School and the American Sublime

Ruth Lantz, a Midwest based artist, received her Masters in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in Portland, OR in 2010.  Her work has been featured nationally at numerous galleries and institutions. Her work was showcased at the Portland International Airport and at the Fringe Festival at Southern Oregon University. Recently, she was a participant in the “Making a Better Painting” Symposium at the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR. She is the founder of Crit Connection, a project provides networking opportunities to artists through monthly one-on-one connections to foster conversation and critique. She is currently an instructor at Portland Community College and Heartland Community College.