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Artist: Ruth Ige

Between Two Dimensions is an ongoing exploration of both the material world and and the transcendental. A space where time is boundless, unrestrained, full of wonder. A place where liberation flies upon the wings of resistance. Cradled between the arms of all things hoped for and all things yet to be seen. A place of rest and comfort where Blackness is seen and heard and cherished. Where her laughter is not suppressed, and her pain is not discounted. In all her forms, wide and full to the brim, boundless. These new works by Ige draw inspiration from the expansive history of portrait painting, building up layers of paint until her subjects are are revealed within paint. Vortex’s within each painting interrupt the experience of each work by shredding the contours of the body and the face. Here, one finds their echo in the light.

About the Artist

Ruth Ige's (b. 1992, Nigeria; based in New Zealand) paintings center the Black figure and explore Blackness in its interrelation to representation, art history, documentation, and existence. Though firmly rooted in history and the present, Ige often delves into future imaginings. A myriad of blue tones and hues shape the world she has built where future, past and present converse with each other. Time fuses in a space that is vast and borderless, where her figures, as described by Ige, “roam between dimensions of history and fiction.” In an almost a shapeshifting manner, the familiar and fantastical are constantly interchanging, and a constant revealing and concealing occurs while stillness remains. Combining both abstraction and figuration, the figures are powerfully seen, but also seem to be lovingly protected and hidden within the havens of blue. Ige often states that her ethos is to “create narratives of blackness that are enigmatic and not easily understood.”

Ruth Ige graduated from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2016. Recent exhibitions include Mcleavey Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (2021); Stevenson Gallery, Capetown, South Africa (2021); City Gallery, Wellington Te Whare Toi, New Zealand (2020); Karma, New York, NY (2019); ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2019); The Vivian, Matakana, New Zealand (2018) and Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (2017).