Artist Statement

“I create imaginary landscapes in veiled, muted colors, evoking the faded look of old color photos, prints and films. Mystical, foreboding, or whimsical, these are mystery worlds, alternate realms lurking beyond the façade of the palpable and my personal homage to the forces of nature, the clouds, cosmos and old sci-fi films! I am fascinated with creating a sense of vastness and space, faraway vistas with distant formations half seen in the clouds and mist–what could they be? Earlier I created cartoons and illustrations of urban angst in pen and ink, but over time my attention shifted to the natural world and its intangible energies, perhaps in part due to my study of tai chi chuan, or in part a desire for solace in the midst of personal loss. Whatever the source, a doorway opened to the work I do today. My principal medium is now pastel, thinly applied, and at times combined with other media including graphite, crayon, oil pastel, gouache, watercolor and acrylic. I love blues, purples, reds and greens, and rarely stray from that palette. Textured “toothy” paper can imply that dot screen look of an old magazine photo or newspaper strip, I dig it! Perhaps it was all foreshadowed when as a child my sixth grade teacher, sympathetic to my art leanings, assigned me to create an image of our solar system in color chalks across the classroom blackboard. Unfortunately no photo of the finished “masterpiece”exists, an ephemeral cosmic image in pigmented dust.”

Education 

  • Studied drawing and sculpture with sculptor Anthony Padovano at Sarah LawrenceCollege, 1974-76
  • Studied comic book illustration with artist Ken Landgraf, 1984
  • Classes at the School of Visual arts with famed illustrator Peter Kuper, 1992-9

Honors

  • Recipient: 2021 Mercer County Exhibition Purchase Award for my artwork entitled Points Unknown, now part of the Mercer County Permanent Art Collection
  • Finalist in The Artist’s Magazine All-Media Art Competition the category of pen and ink, 1994 for the drawing, The Subway

New Brunswick Art Salon 2021 Fall Watercolor and Mixed Media Exhibition

Website:  www.joelrudinart.com

Exhibitions

  • Two small works entitled Threshold(pastel) and Dwellings(mixed media) selected and currently on view Sept 23 – Nov 23, 2021 atCape Fear Gallery, Fayetteville, NC as part of their 6 By Exhibition
  • My work Points Unknown(mixed media) chosen for exhibit at Mercer County Artists2021atThe Gallery at Mercer Community College, July 5 – Aug 6, 2021
  • Single work, Fanfare selected for the 2020 5x5x5 Miniature ExhibitionRiver Oaks ArtsArt Center/Bolton Davis Gallery Alexandria LA, Nov 13, 2020, Feb 13, 2021
  • Plateau, single work, selected for exhibit inArtists of Yardley(AOY)’s juried show, April 6 – April 28, 2019
  • My pastel/mixed media Green of the Trees selected for exhibit at the D&R Greenway Land Trust“Lovely as a Tree” juried show at theJohnson Education Center, Princeton, NJ Nov 30, 2018 – Jan 25, 2019
  • Blue Moon1, single work accepted and exhibited at the bG GallerySpectrum-Gestalt 5 exhibit, Santa Monica, Ca, June 16– July 28, 2018
  • A wall of my works (9 pieces), mostly pastels, on view atCeres Gallery, Soho, New York, Exposure exhibition series, Nov 29 – Dec 3, 2016
  • Five small pastel and mixed media works, Alfa Art Gallery September 27th – November20th 2016
  • Three Flamenco dance inspired works on view at Barron Art Center, Woodbridge, NJ, Feria de Sevilla En Plein Air, through Sept 23, 2016
  • Endless Realm, single work, at the Artists of Yardley 4th Annual Juried Show, April 3 –April 26, 2015
  • Three large pastel works at theSpring Resurgence exhibit, Art at Maxwell’s, Maxwell’s Tavern, Hoboken, NJ, April- May 2, 2015
  • Pastel work entitledInto the Field at Arts bridge 2015 Members Show at Historic Prallsville Mill, Stockton, New Jersey, Feb, 2015
  • Four small pastel/mixed media works on display at Alfa Art Gallery,Small Format/Affordable Art Show, Dec 12, 2014 – Jan 24, 2015
  • Three mixed media works exhibited at Alfa Art Gallery’s annualNew Brunswick ArtSalon, Fall 2014, Watercolor/Mixed Media,Nov 14 – Nov 24, 2014
  • My pastel work entitledMorning Vista was accepted and exhibited atFODC: Friends of the Delaware Canal4th Annual Art Show at Rolling Green Barn,New Hope Pa, Sept 14 &15, 2014
  • Pastel entitledRadiant Nature accepted and exhibited at the Arts bridge 20th AnnualOpen Juried Show,New Hope Art Center, New Hope, PA, June 14-28, 2014
  • Large pastel entitled Land of the Domes accepted for exhibit byMercer County Artists at The Gallery at Mercer County Community College, March 11 through April 3, 2014
  • One man show of my pastel works at theSmall World Coffee Café, Princeton, NJ,June 4-July 2, 2013