Josephine Rutten

 Her painting is about structure, the structure of earth for example, where she zooms in on the detail, the ground under your feet, and she zooms out to the space around us. Structure in layers. There is no judgemental aspect in her painting, no moral stance. That is what intrigues about her work: surface, skin, scratches on the tar seal, an acre of ploughed land has got a quality of its own. The spectator and his/her emotional reaction to the painted image is a private affair. Her painting is known for its layered application of unusual colours, used in different techniques: e.g. crayon, chalk, charcoal, sand besides oil- and industrial spraypaint.In her sculpting too surface is an important element, as she may paint the bronze or give it the appearance of carton or bubble plastic. Again: there is no mercy for the material, there is just expression. In the three dimensions of sculpting one sees a human figure, caught in the action of something small like enjoying himself.