In a forthcoming Huffington Post article, Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin discusses the continued relevance of representational art. Rubin paints her surroundings, particularly landscapes around her home located in Boonville, a rural town in Mendocino County, California. By working on a smaller scale and with great detail, Rubin allows the viewer to focus intensely on wide vistas, creating an intimate engagement with the landscape.
Excerpted from “5 Artists on the Enduring Qualities of Representational Painting,” by F Scott Hess
Tucked away in her secluded Northern California home and studio, Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin has plenty of time to think about the importance of what she does on this planet; “From the beginning of human history, making marks depicting the physical world has been a constant. Our ability to question the meaning and purpose of our existence is what differentiates us from other animal species. Representation in painting touches on this core human truth. It is as much a part of our existence as storytelling and poetry. No matter the subject or content - how complex or how minimal - representational painting incorporates the gift of a narrative. That being said, representation cannot stand alone. The true poetry lies in the orchestration of a good composition combined with the skillful use of paint and color, all driven by sensory perception, intuition and memory. No matter the time in history, when done masterfully, it is timeless. In daily life, we ‘look’ but we do not always 'see’. We are physical beings in a tactile three dimensional world. Representation makes us pay attention to our surroundings as well as to ideas and relationships. We all have a story to tell. It is my firm belief that representational painting will always be new no matter the trends or curatorial leanings of the times.”