
Spotlight Artist
Heather Rubinstein
MFA Annual
Artist Statement
My work signals its history from the material properties
of fabrics—what happens when the fabrics are subjected to
various procedures: cutting, folding, sewing, staining, dyeing,
and brushwork. For my purposes, domestic fabrics such
as bedsheets or drapes (always sourced from thrift stores)
work better than traditional canvas. I like their porousness
and flexibility as well as their status as recycled, repurposed
products. My paintings are informed by postwar European
abstraction (Alberto Burri, Supports/Surfaces, Sigmar Polke)
and the Pattern & Decoration movement, but I try to avoid
citation. I think I work like a phenomenologist. Consciousness
is “intentional,” that is, directed toward concepts, thoughts,
ideas, images from a certain perspective. My certain perspective
is that of painting in all its states, not as an object but as our
experience of that object.
Artist's Additional works
Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections


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