Ruth Cleland - Terrazzo

Northart is excited to host a solo exhibition of abstract artist Ruth Cleland.

Ruth Cleland is originally from the Waikato and currently lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau. In 1998 she gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Dunedin School of Art, and completed her Master of Fine Arts (with distinction) in 2002, specialising in printmaking. Cleland has exhibited nationally and internationally in private galleries as well as public art institutions and has won major awards, including the Park Lane Wallace Trust Development Award (2008) and the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award (2003).

Ruth Cleland’s photorealist paintings and abstractions encourage us to slow down and notice details in our daily surroundings... Cleland is interested in how such close observations of everyday scenes can locate a strangeness that is far from ordinary. Her recording of such details takes on an almost anthropological role, which reveals aspects of who we are and how we live in the world today.

Over the last five years Cleland has studied the floors, walls, and ceilings at her local supermarket and its adjacent car park. For this exhibition, Cleland has selected paintings and drawings from this supermarket series that focus on the patchwork of terrazzo flooring featured in the refrigerated and bakery aisles. Such details would likely go unnoticed as shoppers carry out their weekly routine in search of items to add to their trolley. Cleland draws our attention to this well- trodden surface by presenting a close-up view that oscillates between realism and abstraction; each stone chip, paint mark, stain, scuff, crack, and light reflection painstakingly rendered by hand.

This exhibition will open on Tuesday 25th of January 10am, and then run daily at Northart until 6th of March.

Image: Ruth Cleland, 'Floor 3' (detail), 2021, acrylic on board, image courtesy of the artist and Northart