RUTH CAMPAU goes beyond the boundaries of traditional painting in her artistic practice. She takes distance from the two-dimensional format of the canvas toward more spatial, installational formats, experimenting with a whole range of materials. Campau refers to her work surface as potentially infinite while she endlessly repeats the same brush stroke with the objective of documenting her presence.

THE ELEGANCE OF A GESTURE

With a steady hand, Ruth Campau communicates the seductive qualities of the materials she is using. Her gesture can be compared to that of a gymnast for its elegance and ease. However, a look behind the scenes would reveal Sisyphean labour. Campau’s every move is a trial of the body’s movement and it’s imperfection. The physical effort is put into making meters long panels that are then cut and formed into a composition of geometrical or colourful patterns by the artist.

POLARITY

Taking on an experimental attitude with her first graphic project Polarity (pink, silver) Campau chose a single dry acrylic knob as her matrix. It was consequently run through the press together with a piece of the artist’s hand-cut and hand coloured chine-collé paper. The outcome of the experiment – the final print – is a fine example of the core traits of Campau’s work. On the one hand, we see the rigours linearity of the artist’s signature brush stroke while on the other we are surprised by the work’s tactile presence.