My approach to painting is direct and not particularly cerebral. The process is most important, trying to get the painting in my head to eventually translate on canvas, trying most of all to project a certain mood. My work, though often described as realist, doesn't describe reality as much as attempt to evoke a feeling. The composition is crucial, and I spend lots of time arranging space and color and deciding on symbolic elements.
This direct relationship with nature helps me observe every element of my life with a fresh eye and keeps me curious. Perhaps it seems paradoxical to claim that painting an apple, even the same apples ten times, makes me feel more curious about the world. But it is precisely this intense engagement and wonder over an apple or a face that heightens my sense of curiosity about everything around me. Consequently, this curiosity leads me straight back to the intial step of concept and arrangement and into the next painting."
Paula Rubino was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1968 into a family of snowbirds who eventually settled in Florida. Not long after graduating from law school, she delved seriously into writing and painting, living in Mexico, Ireland, and eventually Florence, Italy where she studied at the Florence Academy of Art. Further studies followed at Richard Serrin's etching studio in Florence and Odd Nerdrum's summer studio in Norway. Today she lives in Florida, after spending several years living in Finland. |
