Kathy Ruttenberg

The fairytale sculptures of Chicago-born, New York-based artist Kathy Ruttenberg inhabit an allegorically charged world of unconscious drives, Ovidian transformations and feminist-inflected narratives. Described by Donald Kuspit as "perhaps the most creative, certainly unusual, ceramic art being made today," Ruttenberg's work is populated with women sprouting or metamorphosing into trees, flowers, birds, snails, antlers and crabs. Figurines of demonic-looking caterpillars, bats and rabbits are intricately rendered in clay and watercolor, a three-dimensional counterpart to the paintings of Leonora Carrington. "The tools for my work are fire, earth and emotions," Ruttenberg writes. "This mix makes an interesting cocktail of allegory and symbolism, with an odd twist of nature. In my world, where the wind blows with intensity, animals and humans often share the moment." This first substantial monograph reveals the richness and craft of her intensely evocative personal/universal mythology.