Ruth Ige

Ruth Ige (born 1992 in Nigeria) is a Nigerian-born painter based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her work was part of the major group exhibition Aotearoa Contemporary at Auckland Art Gallery in 2024. She has been part of several solo and group exhibitions. Quotes The paintings are through her eyes and perspective artist-ruth-ige-gives-freedom-the-capacity-to-dream-in-paint, www.culturedmag.com The figures in my painting are fictional… freedom is a mothering figure to them artist-ruth-ige-gives-freedom-the-capacity-to-dream-in-paint, www.culturedmag.com It can convey sadness, but also renewal and hope at the same time. It can be otherworldly, but also familiar. artist-ruth-ige-gives-freedom-the-capacity-to-dream-in-paint, www.culturedmag.com Everyone from the past, present and future could live together here. Life nor death could separate them. Nor could the borders between the heavens and the earth ruth-ige-aotearoa-contemporary?srsltid=AfmBOopRa6jEShWbBGL-FiE889iNSfzx627f1WKEGGbMCZ45GSmrLlDo, www.the-art-paper.com I have always carried that sense of imagination with me to adulthood artist-ruth-ige-gives-freedom-the-capacity-to-dream-in-paint, www.culturedmag.com I want there to be a conversation between the past, present, and future artist-ruth-ige-gives-freedom-the-capacity-to-dream-in-paint, www.culturedmag.com I am not just focused on the future—I am still anchored to history and grounded in the present. I want to explore Blackness within all these time frames artist-ruth-ige-gives-freedom-the-capacity-to-dream-in-paint, www.culturedmag.com My work centers the black figure and explores blackness in relation to representation, art history, documentation, and existence. Though firmly rooted in history and the present, my paintings often delve into future imaginings. I am interested in creating images that are not easily understood, where there is this sense of being outside of a specific place or time. Where past, present and future collide, converse and coexisting within the same space. Where the figures, roam between dimensions of history and fiction. In almost a shapeshifting manner the familiar and fantastical are constantly interchanging. I am interested exploring the movement between two things and their coexistence: figuration and abstraction, the familiar and otherworldly, stillness and movement, beauty and pain, certainty and uncertainty, etc. Especially using secrecy and mystery as a form of empowerment in the portrayal of blackness through the constant concealing and revealing that occurs by moving between abstraction and figuration. The figures are powerfully seen, but also seem to be lovingly protected and hidden. Overall, my main aim is to explore and show the multiplicity of blackness ruth-ige, melanierogergallery.com External links Category:Living people Category:1992 births Category:Painters from Nigeria Category:Artists from New Zealand