Desiree deRuiter: Eons. Mezzotints, Etchings and Sculptures in the Mezzanine

Fascinated by natural forms that are bizarre and solitary, deRuiter depicts solemn objects that hover in space. These relics, observed in isolated, natural places, outspan our much shorter lives and are gradually changed by the forces of nature. Like the objects singled out, each print represents a quiet epoch in time, a singular moment in a long progression of the earth’s churning.

Mezzotint is a printmaking process that uses metal to create tonal variations in an image. This process reflects the natural wearing down of stone as the copper is meditatively roughened to create a velvety surface. The copper is then burnished to create the image that will be transferred to paper. This process is both laborious and intimate, mimicking the artist’s process of finding and photographing the natural yet bizarre objects waiting in the forest, washed up on a beach, or long-ignored on the side of the road. The time spent studying the object in each image reveals their obscurity and beauty.

Through focused observation, deRuiter developed an affinity for sculpture. By transforming found, eroded materials, deRuiter assembles abstract sculptures that are delicate renditions of materials transformed by the environment. These works, much like the mezzotint prints, refuse to be recognized as any particular object.

In this exhibition, deRuiter explores notions of time and geography according to objects that are transformed by their surroundings. These objects then become encapsulated in psychological spaces through the intimate processes of printmaking and sculpture.
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