With family roots both in Virginia and New York, artist Bill Rutherfoord is striving to prove that you don’t need to reside in the Big Apple any longer if you’re an artist. In fact Rutherfoord, whose exhibit, The Allegory of No Region, just opened at the Taubman Museum of Art, says many artists outside of the superstar, media-hyped exception simply cannot afford to live in New York City anyway – not like 30-40 years ago.
“Allegory” features large paintings by Rutherfoord (an insurance company in Roanoke is run by kinfolk); these are works with multiple images in many cases, with pop art stylings from the 60’s and 70’s often employed.
Rutherfoord uses the Br’er Rabbit stories in multiple paintings to help explain Southern stereotypes and attitudes towards race. Prepare to spend some time at the Taubman gallery deciphering his work; the museum is helping out by posting signage to move people along in the right direction.
Many of the works in the exhibit are from the Taubman’s permanent collection said Rutherfoord, who added that it took about a decade to produce and assemble all of the pieces now on display in two galleries at the top of the Taubman staircase. “The emphasis is really on contemporary art, [using] Br’er Rabbit is simply a way in to dealing with an idea of regionalism.”
Some of the painted images address his own family history – one ancestor in fact was involved with the original land grants that helped create Virginia Tech.
Rutherfoord said the notion of regionalism when it comes to art is outdated, and that “we need to move on to another way of conceiving the contemporary art that exists outside of New York City. The city is basically eviscerated of its Bohemia.”
A Roanoker for several decades now, Rutherfoord said Northeastern artists centered in the New York area have certain perceptions of art outside of their realm, often stereotypical. He’s not above using stereotypes however: “I used Br’er Rabbit as an icon of a South that no longer exists – the Antebellum South exists in residual memory, but not in fact.”
Good art is everywhere now he insists. “We simply all can’t fit on to Manhattan Island – even if we could still afford it,” noted Rutherfoord. “We’re out here …in one giant suburb, interchangeable with the next.” Think in terms of contemporary American art, not regional art, “which exists in a global art world. There is not a center anymore.”
Rutherfoord’s father was an illustrator in New York during the 1950’s, and exposure to that environment has obviously influenced his son’s work. “I simply assumed that’s what people did.” Then the pop art movement sprung up, superceding the abstract impressionists according to Rutherfoord. The sense of narrative from his early background can be seen in the “Allegory of No Region,” which is on exhibit at the Taubman until September.
He calls the paintings on display “very slow reads. They will continue to offer up insights the longer you look at them.”
Be prepared to spend some time and utilize the printed materials supplied by the Taubman to start that interpretive journey. “I would like people to have their own experiences with it,” adds Rutherfoord, “and rethink the idea of regionalism.”
(Several other exhibits have also recently opened; see taubmanmuseum.org for more information.)
By Gene Marrano
