Luz Marina Ruiz "Dualidad" Acrylic on Wood Panel, Vertical Botanical Abstract in Crimson, Bay Area California Art, Original 6 X 24 Inches, 2024

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Two buds, one violet and one cobalt, sit one above the other on this tall panel, joined by a magenta … Read more Two buds, one violet and one cobalt, sit one above the other on this tall panel, joined by a magenta spiral at the center. Mint green opens at the top, the body deepens through crimson to a red and black striped wing at the right, and a scatter of dark dots drifts down the left edge like falling seeds. The title means duality, and the paired blooms, the warm and cool halves and the doubled curves all answer to it. Dense, saturated color and dark outlines give the panel a bold, graphic presence, the clarity of an artist who also works in linocut and monotype.

A strong vertical for an entryway, a stairwell or the space between two windows. The crimson and cobalt hold their own against white plaster, dark wood and black metal, and they add a jewel-like note to a neutral room. It also works well above a narrow console, or near a doorway where its height draws the eye up and gives a small wall a deliberate focal point.

Acrylic on wood panel, 6 x 24 x 1.5 in (15.2 x 61.0 cm).

Luz Marina Ruiz paints in acrylic on wood panel, building saturated color in dense, slightly chalky layers and drawing crisp dark outlines and fine lines through them. Spirals, leaves, blossoms and boat forms recur, simplified into bold shapes with the clarity of a printmaker's design. The rigid wood support keeps the surface flat and gives the intense color a solid, stable base.

Luz Marina Ruiz was born in Cali, Colombia, and raised in New York. She earned her BA, MA and MFA at the University of California, Berkeley, and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches printmaking at the California College of the Arts.

Her practice moves between painting, drawing, printmaking and book arts, with linocut, collagraph, monotype and woodcut often turned into sculptural tunnel books and carousel books. Inspired by dreams and nature, she returns to water and boats as images of life's journeys. Her work is held in public collections including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Library and Mills College Special Collections. See less