What draws one into Ms. Russwurm's work is the
quality of the brushwork, depth of field, and grandeur. In a perversely
old-school painterly fashion, she juxtaposes her experiences as a young
woman against her reaction to how female beauty has been depicted
throughout art history. Her work encourages a discourse that impacts on
the complexity of influences currently affecting women, society and
their own beauty perceptions.
Scale and materials are integral elements of her
work. The large-scale of the works facilitates the physical impression
of empowerment, playfulness, fragility and fragmentation for the
viewer. The texture or non-texture of her wood, canvas, linen and
mylar surfaces layers with charcoal, pastels, wax and oils to portray
living depths under the surface of human flesh.
Large-scale staged paintings and small-scale
portrait series on linen.
