Anita Shapolsky Gallery, 152 East 65th Street, NYC

(1927 - 1998)

Richards Ruben

Richards Ruben was known for incorporating geometry in his paintings, both through the forms within his paintings and through his uniquely shaped canvases. He constantly searched for new ideas in unexplored territories. He provoked the creative possibilities of sight by utilizing familiar forms and suggestive colors to question the boundaries and limitations with which we restrict ourselves when looking at objects of art or the horizon of our environment.

Ruben painted in a very sculptural way. He took his stretcher bars, carved them and shaped the canvas to reflect his interest in how the inner rhythms of the image corresponded with the outer edges of the canvas as well as the canvas’ interaction with the wall itself. In an interview for Ocular magazine in 1981, Ruben claimed that “the critical measurements of a canvas on the wall (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal) are as intrinsic to the structure of the place as they are indigenous to visual experience.” Even within his strictly rectangular canvases, bold diagonal lines threaten to escape off the edges of the painting, onto the gallery walls. Ruben reined them in using muted colors and a calm, stable hum that seems to vibrate through and between each work.

In addition to painting, Ruben taught at prominent art schools throughout his entire career. After serving in the US Army from 1942 to 1944, Ruben returned to Los Angeles, his hometown, and studied at the Chouinard Art Institute. He would teach painting there and at the Pomona and Claremont Colleges in LA until he moved to New York in the 1960s, where he continued teaching at NYU, Columbia University, and Pratt. He died in 1998 teaching a summer class in Venice, Italy for a Pratt Institute art program.