PAGE (NYC)

PAGE (NYC)

368 BROADWAY #511, NEW YORK NY 10013

LEIGH RUPLE

September 17 – October 30, 2022

News

Page is pleased to present Leigh Ruple, her second solo exhibition with the gallery. In her new paintings, Ruple depicts city spaces and their inhabitants with a hyper attention to detail and an array of special effects. Set at different times of night, Ruple tracks hard light and shadow as they fade across sharp surfaces. These high fidelity images are constructed with methodical precision and coordinated complexity, creating tension with poetic and whimsical narratives. Ruple imagines a personal view of the city with finalized potential. 

Through Ruple’s eye, an engineering perspective animates scenes with the kind of speculation and marvel of a blueprint. There is an admiration for technique and ingenuity without feeling mechanically reproduced. Ruple has the mastery and flair of a conductor with precise control and feel for every string in the orchestra. Like the buildings she devises, in the way structures and figures are built up, Ruple’s forms have a quality of industrial polish, ready to stand the test of eternity without fear of losing luster.

It's as if Leigh asks, what if instead of rust, there was light? Reimagining the city’s patinated surfaces into brilliantly mastered facades and forces of vitality, Ruple seems to breathe life into the ordinary. Where others see decay, she sees potential with a little elbow grease. Ruple celebrates this potential to reinvent oneself, not from starting over, but rather building on the shoulders of what already exists. The shine coming off Ruple's canvas is a glow that brings “our best light” to mind.