Archived: September 29th - October 25th, 2005
Eric Rue is a painter based in Portland, OR. He graduated from Pacific
Northwest College of Art (PNCA) with a B.F.A. in painting in 2004. Rue's
recent work takes a conceptual look at the idea of a perceptual rift between
the conscious and unconscious aspects of the human mind and offers a sensual
experience of a world that is becoming increasingly virtual.
Painting is about conflict and resolution. It is as much about my struggle
with the world I inhabit as it is about my effort to make poetic statements
with color, line and form. My painting stems from an obsessive need to
restore a sense of balance for myself between the chaotic intensity of my
inner world and the indifferent modern world of objective experience. This
balance that I am searching for represents a kind of connective tissue which
unites opposing energies - something known with something unknown.
In my current work I attempt to mediate an intangible metaphorical realm
that is ungraspable to the intellect and make it tangible to the senses -
more immediate. I explore an aesthetic that reflects modern life, echoing of
conscious control and a drive for sterility and perfection. This aesthetic
is counterbalanced by a process which emphasizes 'letting go' of the
limitations imposed by reason and preconceived ideas. Ultimately, this
contradiction operates as a visual metaphor in my work providing not only a
more immediate experience but also allowing me to emphasize the craft of
painting as a tangible and deeply humanistic act.
The heroic scale of these paintings evokes a reconnection with larger
archetypal truths beyond the immediately visible world. Their size alone is
suggestive of a state of 'being' that is larger than any one person or
moment in time and communicate my commitment to the artistic process in the
face of existential struggle with freedom, responsibility and
self-definition. The surreal aspects of these compositions highlight this
metaphor illustrating the power and existence of a collective unconscious
counterbalancing a modern consciousness that is becoming more and more
myopic and disconnected from its primal source. My paintings speak to the
potential effects of this imbalance and ultimately seek to reconnect that
which has been separated.