Steven Rhude - Paintings/Drawings

Forbidden City, oil on masonite, 48" x 96", Steven Rhude     http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/ Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

Up on the Roof, oil on board, 24" x 48", Steven Rhude "Inconclusive incidents and their images rarely receive such scrutiny except when a serious accident has occurred or a crime has been committed - then the incidental becomes evidence." - Richard Shiff http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/ Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

Aftermath, oil on board, 20" x 24", Steven Rhude Fool: "But what kind of society would do this to itself? Were not these the very things which forged their identity in the first place?" Jester: Yes, true enough - but now they are condemned to a figurative journey without destination. Find them Fool, for this is where you can now haunt them." [1] Years later... Jester: "so did you find them?" Fool: No, but I'm still looking. I'm told haunting has become something of an obsolete occupation for a fool. However, then I recall what that film maker once said - you know the guy... 'sometimes when I'm dreaming I think - I'll remember this... I'll make a film of it.' I wonder if he didn't have a good point there..."   Jester: " Indeed, he makes a good point. It may sound like an occupational disease to all those that haunt - including you." Fool: " Well, yes true enough, and goo...

Reclamation, o/b, 22" x 52", Steven Rhude http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/ Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

Portrait of Kluskap (with Amethyst), oil on canvas, 38" x 60", Steven Rhude "Kluskap, the first creature, was created out of three bolts of lightening, according to Mi’kmaw legends. Gerald Gloade, a public information officer with the Mi’kmawey Cultural Centre at Debert, says the first bolt gave him form, the second life, but he was still connected to the land and could only observe and learn from nature. The third bolt set him free to walk about and teach." http://www.kingscountynews.ca/living/2010/12/21/the-life-legends-of-kluskap-2059951.html Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/

Post Colonial Town #1, oil on panel, 31" x 40", Steven Rhude Steven Rhude Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/

Spirit Cliff #2, oil on copper, 12" x 20.5", Steven Rhude Spirit Cliff #3, oil on copper, 10" x 20", Steven Rhude "A particular place in the land is never, for an oral culture, just a passive or inert setting for the human events that occur there. It is an active participant in those occurrences. Indeed, by virtue of its underlying and enveloping presence, the place may even be felt to be the source, the primary power that expresses itself through the various events that unfold there."  -David Abram, Spell of the Sensuous, pg 162 http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/ A particular place in the land is never, for an oral culture, just a passive or inert setting for the human events that occur there. It is an active

Spirit Stone, Cape Blomidon, oil on canvas, 20" x 30", Steven Rhude https://ancientstoneart.blogspot.ca/p/did-you-know-that-native-americans.html They (Mi'kmaq) would have left under our very feet, in stream beds or along shore lines like Cape Blomidon, a long standing stone carving art form that held the conviction that a stone contains the spirit of a person, animal, bird, etc. Manipulated in one's hand, or held up against the sky, or sun - or fire light, one can explore the cultural practices of their lives and ethos as they elaborated on that which the stone contains. Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/  

Spirit Cliff #1, Cape Blomidon, oil on panel, 19" x 20", Steven Rhude Glooscap was said by the Mi'kmaq to be great in size and in powers, and to have created natural features such as the Annapolis Valley . In carrying out his feats, he often had to overcome his evil twin brother who wanted rivers to be crooked and mountain ranges to be impassable; in one legend, he turns the evil twin into stone. Another common story is how he turned himself into a giant beaver and created five islands in the Bay of Fundy , Nova Scotia by slapping his huge tail in the water with enough force to stir up the earth. His home was said to be Cape Blomidon . - Wikipedia Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/

  Recently Bloomberg News reported on the dramatic unloading of the so called "Zombie Art" market in recent auctions. Often rationalized as the emergent market, the contrasting example this time is a Canadian work by Hugh Scott-Douglas. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-19/that-100-000-painting-bought-to-flip-yours-for-about-20-000 What was once apparently valued at 100K is now worth 20K. The idea of young and mostly inexperienced artists garnering even $20,000 (less commission) for a single work, let alone 100,000 strikes me as absurd, but likewise as in real estate, this is about the art of the flip, not about the aesthetics and meaningfulness of cultural production, or an artist's skill, depth of study and developed vision.  A much needed probity in terms of social and cultural value is required. But where, if it exists can it be found? Four Seasons, New York Certainly not in the studios of  Bloomberg, covering hucksterism, and the robber b...

Roxanne During WW2, Near Canso, 35" x 22", oil on panel, Steven Rhude I will miss Roxanne, I hardly got to know her, and our time together was too brief. I thank her for her services rendered. I understand she is, like many a maritimer before her, headed down the road to Toronto. Be careful, it is a big city, yet full of kind, creative, and wonderful people - I can testify to this since it is where I grew up. I understand her reasons for going, and trust she will be appreciated where there is a larger market for her expertise. Bonne chance! :) Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/  

Post Cod, oil on board, 24" x 24", Steven Rhude, part of Terroir, AGNS At the End of the Day, Rug Hooking, Laura Kenney, part of Terroir, AGNS Halifax   Event Art Gallery of Nova Scotia   https://www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca/events-programs/terroir-talk-artists-laura-kenney-steven-rhude   Terroir Talk with artists Laura Kenney & Steven Rhude Sunday, 2 October 2016 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm Talks & Tours Join Terroir: a Nova Scotia Survey artists Laura Kenney and Steven Rhude for an in-depth discussion of their work and their on-going joint project. This project explores the Nova Scotian communities, their world, and shared future as framed by a post cod world. FREE with admission. About the Artists Laura Kenney was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan but her roots are in Nova Scotia and has resided in the province for the past 20 years. She has lived in many towns and cities across Canada as well as Germany and Jap...

Herbes de l'esprit , de l'Acadie, oil on panel, 28.5" x 22.75", Steven Rhude "A still life, really, is a fleet of cargo ships setting out to sea on a canal lined with gabled buildings. It’s ermine-trimmed silk jackets on barrel-chested ambassadors who are leaning, shoulders cocked, on Persian rugs. It’s a cellar of salt from processing plants in Venezuela sat next to lemons from the Mediterranean. It’s the dogged pursuit of empire and commodity, and a total assurance that every ounce of self-made wealth was not merely earned, but ordained." -  Caoimhe Morgan-Feir ,  https://canadianart.ca/features/banff-centre-still-alive-residency/ Like the odd Acadia student jogging, or tourists seeking a respite from the sun for a restaurant, most are oblivious to the deportation of the Acadians while they traverse the Dykelands of the great upheaval. I Phone discourse and spandex dominate the image. All that one...

Exodus, oil on panel, 24" x 24", Steven Rhude "Stop and think what an uproar there would be if a real restructuring along the lines of past resettlement were tried today. Stop and think what real hard choices would actually look like today." - Russel Wangersky http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Columnists/2016-05-21/article-4534162/Russell-Wangersky%3A-Erased-from-the-map/1 Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/

Cod's Eye, Heart's Content, oil on board attached to another oil on board , 24" x 24", Steven Rhude “The sea is not less beautiful in our eyes because we know that sometimes ships are wrecked by it.” - Simone Weil, Waiting for God Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS http://www.stevenrhudefineart.com/

Cod's Eye, Towards Argentia, o/p, 24" x 24", Steven Rhude "It is instructive to contrast this with the tendency of the Baroque to present the affects of the persons as clearly and intelligible as possible; to give them that expressione that can also be captured in concepts, for which purpose the eye is not really a useful device at all." - Georg Simmel, Rembrandt: An essay in the Philosophy of Art. [1] The over night ferry to Argentia charts one slowly along towards the land of the cod - an ancient migration. The cod's eye providing the traveller with a window into the soul of a place for those that realise the age of enlightenment and reason still needed the eye as an agent for rational, and not vice versa. Light plays the role of an intermediary, reflecting and registering an image at the back of our ocular screen to be forwarded to our brain for distinction and definition. Opacity is quickly registered, yet transparency, (or in painting the applic...

Woman Listening, o/b, 5" x 8.5", Steven Rhude A woman drew her long black hair out tight And fiddled whisper music on those strings And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings And crawled head downward down a blackened wall And upside down in air were towers Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells. -  T.S. Elliot 

Fishing School, Rug Hooking, Laura Kenney Roxanne During WW2, Near Canso , NS, o/b, Steven Rhude "The working-class man's attempt to blur class boundaries by wearing the bowler was satirized in the early films of Charlie Chaplin. Eventually, the bowler became an icon of the bourgeoisie, as immortalized in Magritte's famous painting of a middle-class man wearing a bowler (Robinson 1993: 166) and, after the Second World War, was worn mainly by middle-class businessmen." - http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/117987.html We in Nova Scotia challenge this premise! Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

House of Film, The McNeil House For Wayward Youth, Chester, NS, oil on board, 48" x 48", Steven Rhude A quick search of Chester, Nova Scotia reveals an image of sailing, cocktails on a veranda overlooking the harbour, and money - lots of it - piles of it in fact. Sir Christopher Ondaatje resides there during the summer and refers to it this way: "A lot of people know about Chester, N.S., but nobody talks about it. They simply don’t want anyone else to go there." Concurrently, a general view in Wikipedia describes the village thus: "Chester is one of the wealthiest communities in the province as a result of being a holiday and resort destination, with many seasonal and year-round estates and mansions. The nearby waters of Mahone Bay and its numerous islands are well known for yachting and have made the Chester Yacht Club into a cruising destination." Apparently, I see a different place. Since the film tax credit disaster and the exodus of ar...

Portrait of Caplin Cove, Nfld, oil on board, 30" x 48", Steven Rhude                                                                The Otherness of Things "Reflected on the surface of the pencil is also the inherited and entangled history for his father's care for this important, and perhaps useful object. There is a certain intimacy suggested. He sharpened it by hand, tactfully. The surface suggests he touched it often in his work. The history to their exposure to each other seems clearly visible - they remember each other in their flesh. Indeed, it seems that he felt, in a certain sense, obligated and responsible for it. He did not simply dispose of it when it became...

Judy - Opening of "Surfing the Ironing Board", Mary E. Black Gallery, Halifax, NS                                                       "Surfing the Ironing Board" Hooked Rugs by Laura Kenney                                             Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax. The show runs from May 20 - July 10, 2016. "Every relationship between persons causes a picture of each  to take form in the mind of the other. And this picture evidently is in reciprocal relationship with that personal relationship." - Georg Simmel    ...

Olympia's Cat, oil on board, 12" x 17", Steven Rhude   "Like the prostitute, the cat was discrete but not respectable, neither bourgeois nor working class but rather a bohemian figure flaunted by artists and intellectuals who enjoyed the ‘independent, almost heartless’ character of  the cat." - Jody Berland https://www.academia.edu/1223080/Cat_and_Mouse_Iconographies_of_Nature_and_Desire  "Olympia reclines coolly on her chaise lounge, surveying the viewer (her next client) with a look as clinical as the exchange that's about to take place. Though boasting a fine art-historical pedigree, based as it is on Titian’s Venus of Urbino , the painting caused outrage for rendering its model not as an idealised, ancient goddess but as an unashamedly contemporary whore from Montmartre. Inspired by the Realism of Courbet, as well as Baudelaire’s call for artists to paint “modern life”, Manet said matter-of-factly: “I just paint what I see. Cou...

Essentially, with so many people in the province leaving – people from all walks of life - as a result of poor economic conditions, even poorer political judgement, jobs at any cost to the landscape, and greener pastures abroad, I used this door as an opportunity to explore and remind myself what it was that brought me here in the first place. If ever there was a time to ask “What about Nova Scotia?” this is it. Door in studio Recall Door, oil/wood with text on reverse. Reverse side with text Recall: He recalled her saying he did not seem to have a lot of childhood memories. Perhaps this was true or perhaps it wasn't; yet like a broken movie reel, the film had been spliced together but with a few pieces missing. What he did remember was in stark contrast to his ocean home now, like the pattern of cookie cutter capitalism and its perfect suburban grid. Intercom systems. Elevators with floor buttons scorched by cigarettes. The beige walls of an apart...

Manet's Olympia From Olympus, home of the gods, and on through to modernism, the portrayal of the female nude within the context of an intimate subject matter continues its historic journey, but does it still carry with it a grand narrative capable of undermining our skepticism? Probably not. Skepticism is the common thread running through most of the waning post modern exercise. The portrayal of the nude human figure (man or woman) now has as it's hallmark an artificiality about it, an affectation that implies that nudity has actually become a form of clothing in itself. We seem more interested in common marketing schemes like the "wardrobe malfunction" or the "naked selfie", rather than the narrative once posited to the Eurocentric tradition couched in the form of  Sacred and Profane Love. We forget that Olympia was once ours to behold.  Back in 1865 the modern name Olympia was code for a Parisian prostitute. Within a single painting, this code...