this is a 4-canvas painting by artist RUSS RUBINΒ calledΒ βthe woman who holds up the worldβ from a new body of work titledΒ βdream lands.β
hereβs the making-of:
inspired as much by whacked-out old cartoon backdrops as koosh balls and artists from stuart davis to nina chanel abney, russβs βdream landsβ seem to dare us to hurl ourselves inside them, into the possibilities of a beauty beyond rationale. from doodles in little notebooks and on spare bill envelopes to finger-drawn digital mockups, the images finally creep onto the canvas, ever evolving as russ slaps on layer after layer, tweaking curves and hues, building up dimension in the paint as he sweats and squints and rubs out his eyes in his basement lair, making and breaking the rules as he goes, hunting down that ever elusive balance around the bend.