Day dreaming of beaches and pining for a vacation are all too common as summer greets us with rising temperatures and busy schedules. It is a tempting thought to abandon responsibilities for a day or just close your eyes for a moment to yourself. Or in my case, to explore Carol Rubin's current show: Scapes and Escapes. As the title suggests, it truly is an escape from the cloudy day hovering above me or a stressful to do list.
The walls are covered in a variety of landscapes that include city, coast, and 'mind-scapes'.
Rubin builds layers upon deteriorating layer in Orange Crush and City on a Hill, as you can almost feel as the pieces fracture and break away off in the distance. Rubin plays with the colors in a way that creates confusion between fore and background. These harsh urban pieces oppose the fluid, calming movement in her Palms and Tide pieces. The repetitive stripes of color serve to simplify the ocean tides but still create a recognizable coastline. Her series of Palm trees are an abstract perception of the patterns in the sky created by the leaves. Rubin's tracts of color through the thick layers of white show how light dances through the leaves on a sunny day.
One piece that stands apart from the recognizable scapes is Angle of Repose. This piece is titled after the architectural phrase which means, “ the angle where everything relaxes”. As Rubin explained the piece to me, it was very clear that is was an internal experience. These pieces on the canvas fit within each other and made sense to her. As a viewer, it stands out from the rest of the show because I was not looking for familiar architecture or elements of nature, but trying to explore it from Rubin's perspective.
Rubin discusses the role of empathy through her work, she explained that her paintings are an emotional experience. This show is infused with the seen and the imagined, the cool breeze and noises of the city, and an escape on every wall. Whether that may be a far away place or Carol's mind, they are all beautifully done.
