RUTH RIX
THREADS & INFLUENCES
Threads. Recurring threads in my work are figures or objects or structures which migrate from canvas to canvas, from space to space or set to set, from periphery to centre, from centre to edge; figures or forms as silhouette or shadow, positive or negative. I try to get close to the boundary between different states and to the moment of transition between one set and another. I watch and explore the interaction between figure and setting in different pieces of work.
Influences. Strong influences are film and photography, theatre, sculpture, and Central European culture. As a child I watched the filming of The Third Man at Shepperton Studios. I have for a long time been influenced by the Austrian sculptor Fritz Wotruba, as well as by the work of John Berger, Rebecca Horn, Bill Viola and Tapies.
More recently I have been impressed by the Czech photographer Josef Sudek, the filmmaker Ori Gersht, and the work of William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Peter Doig, and Gerhard Richter amongst others.