Luz Marina Ruiz "Tierra De Los Sueños Ii" Tunnel Book, Linocut Paper Sculpture in Black, Bay Area California Art, Original 12 X 21 Inches, 2023

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A tall tunnel book glows out of a black ground, its carved cream and yellow lines forming sheaves of leaves, … Read more A tall tunnel book glows out of a black ground, its carved cream and yellow lines forming sheaves of leaves, spirals and shields, while two tulips, one cobalt and one magenta, open at the front. A woven pattern of fine strokes fills the foreground, diamond and ladder motifs hide among the layers, and a band of sky blue runs down the left side wall. The piece has the logic of a dream, with each layer revealing another. Tierra de los Sueños means land of dreams, and dreams and nature are the sources Luz Marina Ruiz returns to.

A tall, sculptural piece for a console, a mantel, a sideboard or a bookcase. It stands on its own, so it can be turned to catch light and viewed from several sides. The black, cream and jewel-toned palette is dramatic against white, gray or deep-colored walls, and it pairs with brass, dark wood and glass. It suits a living room, library or study.

Tunnel Book, linocut, watercolor and gouache, 12 x 21 in (30.5 x 53.3 cm).

A tunnel book is a sequence of printed and cut layers joined by folded side walls, so the scene reads in depth as you look through it. Luz Marina Ruiz combines printmaking techniques such as linocut, woodcut and monotype, sometimes with hand-applied watercolor and gouache, then cuts and assembles the layers, designing each for the passage of light through its openings.

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