RUTH KOLMAN BROPHY
2449 Pine Knoll Drive, #6
Walnut Creek, CA, 94595
925 465 6062
rubro@earthlink.net
www.veryfineart.com, www.ruthkolmanbrophy.com


I am a native of Austria and lived there until my early twenties. As a child, I lived in my parent’s hotel so there was plenty of time to read and dream. Our place was on the banks of the Danube river. Looking across one could see gently rolling, deep green hills. The river dominated the city. It was bluish gray in summer and steel gray in winter. We lived in the oldest part of the city. There was a mix of architectural styles: Buildings from the early Middle Ages and the Baroque and ‘new’ 19th century additions.

I attended the College of Art and Design of the City of Linz, after which I studied at the University of Oregon in Eugene for a year. I enrolled in summer school at the Chicago Art Institute and worked at the ‘Y’ in the mail room, in true American fashion. I married and moved to Minneapolis. I attended classes at the University of Minnesota, the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design while raising four children.

I maintained my own studio and participated in the local art scene. I received awards and commissions. I leased a press for monotypes and participated in Open Studio and Art Walk events. California and the West Coast beckoned, however, and I moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2005.
Since then I have actively participated in the art scene in Northern California, with shows in San Francisco and in a number of East Bay galleries and other venues.

STATEMENT
My work is characterized by a playful sensibility. Circles, curves, squares and other elements move to an invisible choreography. Paintings and prints reflect my optimistic take on life and a sense of joie de vivre. I use an exuberance of color, swooping gestures, sensuous curves and recurring groups of shapes. This profusion of elements is tamed by a strong sense of balance and design and an ultimate preference for formalism.

Since I have lived in Europe and in the United States, my work shows the influence of both continents. Some of the curves and ornamentation of the Baroque and also of the Viennese Jugendstil can be seen in my paintings. My strong sense of design and balance is from the Bauhaus and 20th century European design.The United States has given me an appreciation of pop culture. I am inspired by fabrics from Midwestern homes; the bright, intensive colors of the California landscape and the cool and organic shapes of mid-century furniture and architecture.

I am a multimedia artist, with particular emphasis on monotype, collage and painting.
I approach each new piece with a sense of abandon, letting gestures, calligraphy and graphic shapes break the blank expanse of the canvas.
While I generally have a ‘plan of attack’, at the early stages of creating a work I will try out many different avenues, changing colors and forms and using gestural marks and an internal rythm to point the way until I feel that the piece has a certain direction. Then I am ready to implement the design and to organize the elements into an intricate, formal arrangement. Much like solving a visual puzzle, I move shapes, colors and lines about until the work achieves a harmonious balance.