Janet Rickus
Janet Rickus is meticulous in her approach to the still life compositions she renders in oil on canvas and panel. Mostly self-taught, Rickus has applied her deft hand to painting the forms of fruits, vegetables, vessels, and linens arranged on shelves for over a decade. She does not alter the shapes, sizes, or tones of the objects before her in the studio, choosing rather to accurately capture their natural permutations. Carefully composed according to form and color, the objects assume personalities that convey a study of personal relationships and attitudes. The stilled objects become animated, turning toward and seeming to gaze at one another, instilling the work with a unique and contemporary take on the history of the still life. Rickus received the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in Painting in 2006. Her work has been shown in galleries across the northeast, including Hoorn-Ashby in New York, and was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA in 2001. Rickus lives and works in Great Barrington, MA.
Focusing on still lifes since 1983, Janet Rickus has become one of America’s premier artists in this genre. Using exquisite specimens of familiar fruits and vegetables, Rickus has created a body of meticulously rendered paintings that are not only the equal of her seventeenth century predecessors but successfully push this timeless subject into the 21st century. Using theatrical devices and humor, Rickus invests each object with human qualities, creating familial connections both strained and endearing. A length of rope draws two ewers into a tangled relationship appropriately titled It’s Complicated while Coming Attractions pits green against yellow as a lime/watermelon goes head to head with a lemon topped squash. Despite the very real fullness of her objects, only a sliver of the tabletop is visible, providing the shallowest of stages. Thus, the classic modern tension is felt between the illusion of space and the flatness of the canvas. Color can also play a strong role in her work allowing her to create symphonic harmonies in various hues.
Born in 1949, Janet Rickus lives and works in Great Barrington with fellow artist Warner Friedman. She was a 2006 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in Painting. Her work has been shown in galleries across the northeast, including Hoorn-Ashby in New York, and was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Springfield, MA in 2001.
