Craig's new body of work created in Rio de Janeiro will be exhibited at Richard Martin Art Gallery from 21st November to 9th December 2009.

Rio de Janeiro is defined by its contrasts: the city and the favela, the rich and the poor, the mountains and the ocean. These polarities are both conflicting and cohesive like the sand and the ocean but they come together at a knife's edge. On Ipanema beach, class and racial structures relax and life is played out upon a sunstruck stage.

The body in motion is the focal point of my work, set against the shifting seascape of Ipanema. The bodies capture the racial amalgamation of Rio and embody the spirit of a people that bursts forth with abundance of energy. Each somersault encompasses the confidence and daring of its people: embracing the present and leaping forth to their future, facing life as it comes, fearless upon the sands of their beautiful Ipanema.

Opposing sides combine ... empty and full ... presence of form and transparency... all and nothing. The delicate line in my paintings vibrates on a plain of suspended glass. Soft water colours carry the breath of light through strong black line work that is sharp, free flowing and at times gritty. Fields of view are in constant flux as horizon lines shimmer, and the sky, ocean and sand become one. With every leap, the breath of life is celebrated as bodies are entwined with the heavens and sea, yet set above, hovering as though here on borrowed time.

During world recession, when the word depression is used more commonly than ever, I have decided to venture into the opposite direction. In a city filled with contrasts, with hundreds of reasons to despair, I have found a people instilled with heightened spirits. In the midst of them I chose to create work that would continue to uplift and inspire.

Craig Ruddy

Suspension - Catalogue Article

by Jonathan Turner

Craig Ruddy captures the sharp light of Rio de Janeiro as it is reflected by the rippling sea, bouncing off the white sands to create a distinctive, mauve haze. The shards of light overlap and fragment, as though refracted by panes of glass, and the imagery in Ruddy's Levitation series is further affected by the actual glass sheets superimposed over his most recent paintings. Outlines of athletic figures immersed in water, tumbling in the frothy surf and leaping on the beach sometimes resemble the shimmering profiles of a mirage. The horizon shifts. Shadows seem to appear and disappear, but in fact, they really do.

For Ruddy has invented a risky and original new technique for his Levitation series. Essentially it involves three separate processes. The first is the creation of a canvas as a backdrop, mixing and splashing watery paints in aquamarine, violet, sky blue and sandy colours. The abstract nature of the "scenery" is further accentuated by folds in the stretched canvas, which sometimes mimic the tidal marks on a beach. Within a deep frame, Ruddy then inserts panels of glass in front of each canvas. Onto the glass panes, sometimes on both the front and back surfaces, he sketches figures and details of the landscape in black ink. He uses a quick-drying Japanese ink specially produced for adhering to glass, as well as a micro pigment ink, which can take up to a month to dry on glass. Later Ruddy manipulates the figures he depicts, scratching into the black line-work, building up layers, and spraying the forms so that the solid outlines dilute and grow softer.

Most of the tangled and matted shading is contained within the silhouettes of his male athletes and female bathers, suspended in washes of blue. Conversely to the gestural techniques and the limited palette, these works are more realistic and sparser than many of Ruddy's earlier portraiture. For the first time, Ruddy has used photographs and video footage to observe the poses of his dynamic, playful figures. This might partially explain the greater sense of realism in such works as Elevation, Somersault, Ascent and Reflection, portraits which are expressive rather than expressionistic. The water appears to cling to the contours, and crystallizes on the glass. The end result is a strata of line-work and colour, with each progressive layer casting its own shadow. "You figuratively sink into them," says Ruddy of his seascapes.

The series was inspired by Daniel and Jonathan, two Brazilian gymnasts almost identical in stature, who Ruddy saw one day performing the stylized moves of capoeira on the beach at Ipanema. "Tall and tan and young and handsome," these lithe male figures from that famous bossa nova jazz standard, and whose praises have been duly sung by the likes of Astrid Gilberto, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey and Eartha Kitt, reappear in Ruddy's paintings as acrobats whose movements defy gravity.

"I wanted to show a sense of fragility and heightened energy," says the artist. "In Rio, you float and smile."

Levitation is about surface and depth, waves of colour and an undertow lurking in the paint. Fingerprints and smudges look like footprints in the sand. With light and grace, Craig Ruddy again focuses on the constant ebb and flow of beauty.

Jonathan Turner the award-winning Rome-based art critic and curator, November 2009