Lot 41: Santa Cruz, 2003

Santa Cruz, 2003
Oil on canvas.  190 x 280 cm. (74 3/4 x 110 1/4 in).   Signed and dated 'RUCKHABERLE 2003' on the reverse.

 Private collection, Germany

[Christoph Ruckhäberle's] paintings recall the fin-de-siècle ennui not only in terms of content—their mode of painting with a cancelled out dynamic is also analogous of that period. The attitude of the figures is broken through by Ruckhäberle, not only by the skewed visual angle or other perspectival inconsistencies, but also through surrealistic borrowings and the elaboration of rhythmic patterned surfaces. In the large scale paintings Ruckhäberle's narration and abstraction clashes persistently a new creating theatricality reminiscent of expressionist woodcuts.
(Press release for 2009 Christoph Ruckhäberle exhibition at Migros Museum, Zurich)