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Artist Statement
Artist Statement
I made this series of work over the course of a Drawings & Composition II course. The earlier pieces were created with colored pencils and have a realistic representation of familiar objects. The later pieces include a colored pencil cubism piece, a realistic pastel piece, and a more abstract pastel piece called Mephisto Waltz. Outside of this series, there is more of a collection that includes earlier black and white progression pieces.
With the realistic pieces, I used a grid to create accurate proportions and cast shadows. Once the anchoring dimensions are complete the empty background space is filled in free-hand with less of a focus on realism. For instance, in Dark Elixir, the cast shadow on the wall isn’t realistic but it makes the overall piece a little more interesting. Mephisto Waltz, on the other hand, did not involve a grid at all and is intended to depict the feelings created by Frans Liszt’s piano performance. Every piece is completed while listening to one or several songs on repeat. When a song creates a vivid image, it is much easier to create pieces freehand and also creates a calming feeling during the process. When I look at previously completed pieces, the music I listened to while creating them plays in my head and gives me a sense of being somewhere else. While I don’t expect anyone else to connect to the music that inspired each piece, I do hope to create a connection to the viewer through the emotions behind the contrast and hues.
Mephisto Waltz
Mephisto Waltz
Oil Pastel|7 x 9|2020
High tea
High tea
Colored Pencil|6.5 x 10.5|2020
Dark Elixir
Dark Elixir
Colored pencil|14 x 17|2020
Fall Harvest
Fall Harvest
Oil Pastel|7 x 9|2020
Urban Decay
Urban Decay
Colored Pencil|14 x 17|2020
Artist bio
Artist bio
Laine Rugen was born and lives in Sacramento, CA. Drawing from a mixture of humanistic psychology, loss, and childhood memories, she creates pieces focused on competing dualities, the human condition, and nostalgia.
Laine’s earliest influence was an older eccentric second cousin, Brian, who spent a solitary life painting, experimenting with origami designs inspired by nature, sculpting with various mediums, and living within the imaginative structures he built on his land in Sutter Creek. Brian’s sister, Terry, ultimately led to Laine’s interest in oil pastel and color theory. However, her primary influence stems from the loss of a friend and artist, Melissa, to depression in 2010. The sketchbooks and artwork Melissa left behind conveyed unsettling and heartbreaking depths of persistent and debilitating psychache that ultimately shattered and reframed Laine’s long-held existential beliefs. Melissa’s focus on sunken dark eyes and melting faces alongside dissociative, ethereal figures continues to be an influence in Laine’s ongoing attempt to understand and depict the more delicate and tenebrous aspects of the human condition. Laine’s preferred mediums include oil pastel and photography. With oil pastel, a color selection similar to that of German Expressionists is used to convey stronger emotion, while photography allows for a moodier but clearer presentation.
Initially taught how to draw by a caretaker as a child, Laine turned away from creative pursuits for nearly all of her adolescence and her early 20s when familial depression symptoms became more pronounced. Having grown up hearing about a rampant family history of artists who ended up suffering from schizophrenia or manic depression, Laine decided to turn towards a different field that aligned more with her paternal grandfather’s work. After a stint in engineering and an eventual return to functional health in 2015, Laine returned to school in 2018 to focus on coursework in art and psychology. Currently, she is in the process of completing an AA in Art.
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