Zwylazee

Brian Rutenberg
Brian Rutenberg
Born	Brian Christopher Rutenberg
Nationality	American
Education	BFA from College of Charleston, MFA School of Visual Arts, New York
Known for	Abstract painting
Movement	Abstraction, Landscape Painting
Awards	Marie Walsh Sharpe, Fullbright Scholarship

Brian Christopher Rutenberg (born September 18, 1965 in Myrtle Beach, SC), is an American abstract painter.

Rutenberg received his BFA from the College of Charleston in 1987 and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1989. He currently lives and works in New York City with his wife Kathryn and two children.

Timeline

1965 Born September 18 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the first of three sons to John and Sandra Rutenberg. 1947-77 Attend private school at Myrtle Beach’s Coastal Academy.
1978 After demonstrating an interest in drawing, Rutenberg begins after school watercolor classes, and experiments with acrylic paints.
1978 Enters College of Charleston, and studies under abstract painter William Halsey.
1984 While at the College of Charleston Rutenberg took classes with British Abstract painter Michael Tyzack, who became his faculty advisor and close friend.
1986 Rutenberg listens for the first time to Glenn Gould’s 1981 second recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which launched the artist’s deep and lasting interest in the late Canadian pianist’s music and philosophy.
1987 Rutenberg graduates with honors from College of Charleston. Enters the M.F.A. Program at the School of Visual Arts, New York.
1989 Rutenberg’s first solo exhibition at Francis Marion University Art Gallery in Florence, South Carolina.
1991 Rutenberg was awarded a Basil H. Alkazzi Foundation Award. The award enables him to study in Rome, Bologna and Venice, Italy for three weeks where he studied the works of Annibale Carracci,Bernini and Tiepolo. Inspired by 17th and 18th Century Italian ceiling paintings and the Villa d’Este near Rome, Rutenberg commences his River Paintings series.
1992 Rutenberg is awarded a 1-year Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Grant.
1993 First New York solo exhibition, River Paintings, at Cavin-Morris Gallery. Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina organizes Rutenberg’s first museum exhibition.
1994 Rutenberg begins to spend time in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada to study Glenn Gould’s life and career. He travels to Canada annually for this purpose until 2002. Rutenberg enrolls in music history classes at New York’s Julliard School.
1995 Rutenberg discovers the work of Canada’s Group of Seven painters.
1997 Rutenberg received a Fulbright Scholarship which afforded him an opportunity to spend seven months in Ireland. It is from his travels there that the artist’s work became shaped by Celtic Culture, specifically the La Tene Period, 600-400 BC.

2000 Rutenberg has his first solo exhibition with Forum Gallery, Los Angeles. Forum Gallery, New York becomes Rutenberg’s primary representative.
2001 Solo Exhibition at the Butler Institute of America Art in Youngstown, Ohio, Brian Rutenberg: A Ten-Year Survey.
2002 Rutenberg’s daughter, Olivia, is born.
2004 Awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in painting. Son, Christian is born.
2006 South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina organizes a Major Retrospective for Rutenberg, Brimming Tides: Paintings and Drawings by Brian Rutenberg.

Selected Collections

Art Museum of Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, SC
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
College of Charleston Foundation, SC
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA
Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC
Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH
St. John's Museum of Art, Wilmington, NC
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

Awards

2004 Fellowship in Painting, New York Foundation for the Arts
2002 Spring Island Trust Award
2000 Peter S. Reed Foundation Award
Sea Island Trust Visiting Artist
1997 Fulbright Scholarship
Artists Work Programme Studio Grant, Irish Museum of Modern Art
1993 Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation
1991 The Basil H. Alkazzi Award for Excellence in Painting
Ragdale Foundation Fellowship
1988 MFA Scholarship Award, School of Visual Arts
1987 Laura Bragg Memorial Award

Articles and Reviews

Baker, Kevin. “Brian Rutenberg is on a brave quest for freedom in color”(review). ‘’San Francisco Chronicle’’, February 11, 2006. [1]
Bendin, Dariel. “ Local Boy Makes Good.” ‘’ Myrtle Beach Alternatives’’, February 27, 2009. [2]
Brownfield, Paul. “Gould variations.” ‘’’Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC), January 5, 1997.
Day, Jeffrey. “Going with the Flow” (review). ‘’The State’’ (Columbia, SC). January 17, 1993.

De Santis, Solange. “A Glenn Gould Gathering.”’’ The Wall Street Journal,’’ (October 7, 1999.)

Drake, Nicholas. “Rutenberg’s Imagination Soars with Oil and Canvas.” “”The Post and Courier,’’ (South Carolina), March 21, 1996.

Ebony, David. (review). ‘’Art in America,’’ May 1994.
Johnson, Ken. “For a Broad Landscape, an Equally Wide Survey.” ‘’The New York Times,’’ May 31, 2006. [3]

Lang, Sandy. “MB Artist wins Alkazzi Award.” ‘’The Sun News,’’ December 21, 1991.

Lucas, Scott. “Lush, Lusty Landscapes.” ‘’Creative Loafing Magazine’’ 2003.

Melrod, George. “Abstract Visions.” ‘’Art & Antique’s’’, November 1996.

Smith, Nick. “For painter Brian Rutenberg, the waiting isn't the hardest part: The Prince of Tides.” ‘’Charleston City Paper’’, November 9, 2009. [4]
Sozanksi, Edward J. “Uncommon Dignity for Common People.” ‘’The Philadelphia Inquirer,’’ February 18, 2000.

External links

Brian Rutenberg’s Website
Forum Gallery, New York
Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN
Tew Galleries, Atlanta, GA