Ray Ruseckas
Ray Ruseckas, who is known for the deep, natural earth tones of his pastels, has turned his eye in recent years toward the riverways and treescapes of New England. Beginning with his own treeline along the Green River, and the hillside above his home where the wood’s edge meets a broad swath of open fields, he began to study how that intersection of bramble meets tree, grasses to bramble, water to grass edge.
Ruseckas has been developing his talent over the past twenty years, and the sureness of his hand is evident in this new series of work. He has a unique sensitivity to the landscape, and the moodiness and depth of the palette imbues each scene with a sense of the unknown.
Working in tandem with friend and co-conspirator, Wolf Kahn, the two often set out together during the summer and fall, traipsing across fields and stopping on the side of dirt roads in search of the perfect plein air compositions. As is his wont, Kahn sets up his pastel table and chair to take advantage of the close view of the side of an old barn; Ruseckas positions himself most often to contemplate the view over the rolling fields and the delineation of the woods and hedgerows.
Ruseckas’ work is marked by a certain sense of mystery: he is sensitive to the nuances of the changing light and thus tonal shifts of the landscape under the quixotic New England skies, and has great respect for the what the land has to offer: its depth of color, the texture of the fields, the mass of tree branches, the weight of the sky, the volume of the landscape itself. These elements cohere to create a strong sense of ‘witnessing’ the landscape, of participating in the landscape…. an unusual and generous experience for the viewer.