NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN: SELECTIONS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

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BARBARA AND ERIC RUDD ART FOUNDATION

BERKSHIRE ART MUSEUM

EXHIBITIONS

East Main Street

summer wed-sat 12-5, sun 12-2; fall sat/sun 12-5

NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN

SELECTIONS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

Four Big Collages

Small Relief Collages

Artistic Genes: Six Generations

1970s:  Plant-Based Organics, Creatures,

Crates, & Ontogens

Robotic Walter’s Ontogen

Iceberg installation & 1987-2011 Lexan Sculptures

early work of Eric Rudd 1966-1980

Blueprints – 1929 Original Blueprints

Summer Street Annex

summer wed-sat 12-5, sun 12-2; fall sat/sun 12-5

a chapel for humanity

150 life-sized figures/54 ceiling panels

9/11 meditation garden

WC drawings

Beaver Mill (first floor north) Annex

Selected summer Sundays 3-5

pandemic period pyramid paintings

dark ride project sculpture garden

Since 2014, the Berkshire Art Museum has included hundreds of artists in its changing annual exhibitions. After two years of extensive repairs to the façade, roof, and lower level with the help of a matching MCC cultural facilities grant and not knowing when the work would be completed, the Foundation decided not to commit to an exhibition schedule involving other artists for this season.  However, in celebration of our 10 years of exhibitions, we are presenting selections from the Barbara and Eric Rudd Art Foundation’s permanent collection never-before-seen by the public.  

A selection of Eric Rudd’s early artwork (1966-1980) has been on display on the lower level since the museum’s opening season.  That selection begins with his 1966/67 minimal period (soon after the artist evolved from his abstract expressionist period when Rudd started composing hard-edged structural forms in painting, reliefs, and sculptures) and continues with his major early periods (London 1968, Dormers 1969, Grids 1970-71, Planks 1972-73) into his 1973 – 1980 sculptural artworks when he adopted an industrial spray-in-place rigid polyurethane foam process (including the two outdoor sculptures on the museum lawn).  This season’s exhibitions feature his Plant-based Organics, Crates, Creatures, and Ontogens created in the 1970s.  

Beginning with Rudd’s use of spray polyurethane foam, the artist painted on paper and then bent, folded, and combined with foam to create relief forms called “Ontogens.”  The Ontogens are mostly free-floating wall reliefs, although some were composed within frame-structures.  For the plant-based works, the artist was interested in large forms that had intricate surfaces, such as found in large bushes.  Expanding this interest led to his surreal-fantasy trees, plants, and flowers in various formats.  His Creatures meld sculptural study models with his plant-based sculptures since they are fused with the ground.  It’s interesting to note that the 1977 “upside-down tree” in the Crate Series was created decades before the outdoor sculpture at the Clark or the signature work previously at MASS MoCA.  

In 2011, Rudd once again secured access to the blow-molding facilities at Sabic Plastics (formerly G.E. Plastics where the artist first used Lexan ™ industrial blow-molding facilities starting in 1987).  During his work sessions at Sabic, the artist created sculptures using circular formats (three are on display in the iceberg installation on the museum’s main level).  While completing his 2011 sculptures, Rudd decided to return to flat rectangular surfaces for work that could be done within his own studio facilities. The last time his work focused on rectangular formats was for his 1970-71 Grid Series (a few are exhibited in the lower galleries).  Returning to traditional stretched canvases, Rudd used the technique of collage by applying paint and ink on archival paper which he then adhered onto canvas.  The earliest of the Four Big Collages presented on the main gallery level is from 2011 and shows a similar fluidity embedded in his circular Lexan sculptures made about the same time.  While maintaining an organic painted surface treatment, Rudd gradually tightened his collaged compositions using angular shapes which eventually evolved into triangular shapes.  In 2018, Rudd added pyramid and dagger relief components. 

In addition to the large relief works, Rudd continued the collage process in smaller motifs.  “Small Reliefs” are exhibited in the side gallery on the main floor.  “Artistic Genes” exhibits artwork by six generations, exploring the question whether there is artistic DNA.

In 2011, Rudd once again secured access to the blow-molding facilities at Sabic Plastics (formerly G.E. Plastics where the artist first used Lexan ™ blow-molding facilities starting in 1987).  During his 2011 work sessions at Sabic, the artist created sculptures using circular formats (three are on display in the iceberg installation on the museum’s main level).  

While completing his 2011 sculptures, Rudd decided to return to flat rectangular surfaces for work that could be done within his own studio facilities. The last time his work focused on rectangular formats was for his 1970-71 Grid Series (a few are exhibited in the lower galleries).  Returning to traditional stretched canvases, Rudd used the technique of collage by applying paint and ink on archival paper which he then adhered onto canvas.  The earliest of the Four Big Collages presented on the main gallery level is from 2011 and shows a similar fluidity embedded in his circular Lexan sculptures made about the same time.  While maintaining an organic painted surface treatment, Rudd gradually tightened his collaged compositions using angular shapes which eventually evolved into triangular shapes.  In 2018, Rudd added pyramid and dagger relief components.

While completing his 2011 sculptures, Rudd decided to return to flat rectangular surfaces for work that could be done within his own studio facilities. The last time his work focused on rectangular formats was for his 1970-71 Grid Series (a few are exhibited in the lower galleries).  Returning to traditional stretched canvases, Rudd used the technique of collage by applying paint and ink on archival paper which he then adhered onto canvas.  The earliest of the Four Big Collages presented on the main gallery level is from 2011 and shows a similar fluidity embedded in his circular Lexan sculptures made about the same time.  While maintaining an organic painted surface treatment, Rudd gradually tightened his collaged compositions using angular shapes which eventually evolved into triangular shapes.  In 2018, Rudd added pyramid and dagger relief components.

While maintaining an organic painted surface treatment, Rudd gradually tightened his collaged compositions using angular shapes which eventually evolved into triangular shapes.  In 2018, Rudd added pyramid and dagger relief components.

Eric Rudd’s Plant-Based Organic Sculptures, Crate Series, Creatures, and Ontogens were mostly created a half century ago – during the 1970s.  From the beginning of Rudd’s use of rigid-spray polyurethane foam, he incorporated paintings/drawings on paper that he then bent or folded to create relief forms called “Ontogens.”  (The name “Ontogen” was first proposed by museum director Walter Hopps for Rudd’s artworks; it indicates an organism that is self-sufficient.  The artist liked the idea of giving “birth” to new life in his artistic endeavors.)  

The Ontogens are mostly free-floating wall reliefs, although some were composed within frame-structures.  This motif continued in larger formats, the largest perhaps being his “Pavilion” of 1980/81 which measured 19 by 19 by 19 feet. 

The Crate Series utilized shipping crates for bathtubs that were being discarded at a construction site across from his Washington D.C. studio.  It’s interesting to note that the 1977 “upside-down tree” in the Crate Series was created decades before the outdoor sculpture at the Clark or the signature work previously at MASS MoCA.  

For the Plant-Based Organic Sculptures, the artist was interested in large forms that had intricate surfaces, such as found in large bushes and trees.  That interest stimulated the artist to also create surreal-fantasy plants and flowers in various formats.

Is there some sort of DNA “art gene” that is passed down from generation to generation? 

The question is, does an artist today even need the kind of “talent” we normally associated with in the past?  

History is important; an appreciation of the past allows artists to know how and where they want to venture in a truly unique and creative path.  Knowing what an artist is rebelling against, or seeking and recognizing new frontiers, allows great art to be realized.

I hope this small family exhibition demonstrates that perhaps there is such a thing as an “artistic gene.”  At the same time, there are a multitude of new routes that creative people can take – and most do not rely upon the past traditional roles and old-fashioned steps of becoming a full-time professional artist.  Certainly, not practicing traditional methods might allow the creation of great new images currently unimagined.  After all, the artistic future is a “blank canvas.”

Rudd has always had a parallel interest in figurative artwork.  Rudd taught drawing in the early 1970s at the Corcoran (College of Art) and his interest in figures continued along with his other artwork.  His figurative drawings are numerous.  However, his largest figurative work (1990-93) is on display in the museum’s annex, an epic sculptural installation comprising 150 life-sized figures. The 54 ceiling panels were installed in 2001.  The annex, included with BAM admission, is located 200 steps away from the main museum. Another figurative installation, the White Cave (a/k/a Purity Vacuum) can be viewed at the Foundation’s First Floor Studio/Museum @ Historic Beaver Mill.  

As a special preview of what’s to come, Rudd’s 17,000 square foot first-floor studio, part of his 50,000 square foot studio in the Beaver Mill, is open this season on selected Sunday afternoons.  On public view are Rudd’s Pandemic Period Pyramid Paintings, including the enormous “Wonderlust I.” Also on view are major components of the 1995/1996 “Dark Ride Project,” including the Sculpture Garden, Purity Vacuum, Artifacts Gallery, Intro-Cave, and the Walter Hopps Introduction.  Guided tours of the upper studio floors are by reservation. Please check with the museum staff for specific times/dates.