Eye of the Earth
February 17th, 2017 –March 12th, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday, February 17th, 6pm – 9pm
Ruth Hardinger, detail of “Layers Live and Rise #2″ (2016, concrete, cardboard, graphite, plaster, marble dust, acrylic, 50″ x 24″ x 8”)
DAVID&SCHWEITZER Contemporary is proud to present a solo exhibition of works by Ruth Hardinger, Eye of the Earth, opening Friday, February 17th, 2017 in our main gallery space.
Ruth Hardinger’s practice – borne of a love of materiality and process – shares an affinity to the love and respect that specific ancient indigenous cultures had for the environment. This affinity forges her abstract form into an environmental activism, bringing a crucial relevance and complex layered meaning to her work. Hardinger’s instinct is to dig deep; she plunges beyond aesthetics and processes to empower her stone, concrete, paper, graphite, and mixed media works with consciousness and memory. Knowledge is one thing; visceral creation reaches deeper. Each Hardinger work has many layers and probes themes that include time, death, causality– modern and ancient culture’s philosophies, psychologies and geothermal strata – air, earth and water.
Recently deceased playwright Edward Albee, a champion of Hardinger’s, said it beautifully:
Be conscious, be fully conscious.
Do some good maybe.
Be useful.
Participate fully all the time in case this is all there is.
Don’t miss anything.
Don’t close doors.
Listen to the birds.
A New York City resident, Hardinger has had solo exhibitions in Amelie A. Wallace, SUNY Old Westbury (2016), in Long Island University Brooklyn campus, Five Myles, Brooklyn (2015). Group shows include 490 Atlantic Gallery, Mishkin Gallery, NYC and NJCU Visual Arts Gallery, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ. 11ème édition Salon Zürcher, Paris.
Cooper Union/Institute for Sustainable Design received a Marfa Dialogues/NY grant in 2013 that supported Hardinger‘s and Rebecca Smith’s co-initiation of an exhibition and panel discussion about Manhattan’s gas pipeline leaks, based on a report Hardinger and Smith initiated, conducted by Damascus Citizens for Sustainability. Hardinger was a co-organizer for Art and Activism against the Drill, at Exit Art, 2010.
Hardinger’s work is owned by the Museum of Modern Art Library, Artist Book Collection, Chase Manhattan Bank, Edward Albee Foundation, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and Brunnier Gallery and Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, IA plus many private collectors. New York Times, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, Art Critical and Brooklyn Rail have reviewed her exhibitions. Hardinger has a Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Studies, Magna Cum Laude, Hunter College, NYC. She received year-long MacDowell Travelling Scholarship 1972 and 1992 full year IIE Grant to Mexico, administered by Fulbright Foundation.