Steven Rhude - Paintings/Drawings

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...