Ian Ratowsky
Ian Ratowsky has been producing bodies of unique work for over forty years. His most recent is no exception - a series of faces on a large scale. “I prefer working within large pieces. I become immersed, lost in fact and find peace there.”
The basis for these works is acrylic paint but Ratowsky builds upon his surfaces with marks made in pastels and Japanese inks. His action strokes and fine lines coalesce into features that are moody—expressing the pain, joy and love with which they are created.
This series is painted on the only Tequila Paper® in existence—a paper that the artist created from Agave fiber from Jalisco, Mexico and stretched on canvas. “The surface of my paper is like no other--it offers the perfect tooth.” And he likes the size of the marks: “The marks result from the force I can apply to the surface and the freedom I derive from creating such a world.”
Ratowsky says, “Faces are in one position, yet in many positions. Dual realities. There is a mood, a stare, a moment that seems frozen, but stays alive. The work is never done, it is completed.”
Studio spaces have been varied; work was completed in small hotel rooms in Costa Rica, on the rich red dirt of New Mexico and on the beaches of Goa, India, plus more traditional studios in New York, Arizona, California, Iowa, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India – too numerous to recall. “It’s been a nomad’s life. One I am grateful for”.
Ian Ratowsky has been producing bodies of unique work for over forty years. His most recent is no exception - a series of faces on a large scale. “I prefer working within large pieces. I become immersed, lost in fact and find peace there.”
The basis for these works is acrylic paint but Ratowsky builds upon his surfaces with marks made in pastels and Japanese inks. His action strokes and fine lines coalesce into features that are moody—expressing the pain, joy and love with which they are created.
This series is painted on the only Tequila Paper® in existence—a paper that the artist created from Agave fiber from Jalisco, Mexico and stretched on canvas. “The surface of my paper is like no other--it offers the perfect tooth.” And he likes the size of the marks: “The marks result from the force I can apply to the surface and the freedom I derive from creating such a world.”
Ratowsky says, “Faces are in one position, yet in many positions. Dual realities. There is a mood, a stare, a moment that seems frozen, but stays alive. The work is never done, it is completed.”
Studio spaces have been varied; work was completed in small hotel rooms in Costa Rica, on the rich red dirt of New Mexico and on the beaches of Goa, India, plus more traditional studios in New York, Arizona, California, Iowa, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India – too numerous to recall. “It’s been a nomad’s life. One I am grateful for”.