Location: United States
JOHN RUPPERT was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1951 and received his MFA from the School for American Craftsman, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, in 1977. Ruppert’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in museums, sculpture parks and galleries both in the United States and abroad. Reviews of his work have been published in Art in America, Sculpture, the New Art Examiner, the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, the New York Times and Art China. From 1962-64 he lived in Amman, Jordan. Became active in archaeology and traveled throughout the area (Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus), visited sites and participated in several digs. Experiencing the remains of ancient cities and civilizations in the barren landscape has had a lasting effect on him and his artwork. Ruppert, who is a full Professor and past Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Maryland, College Park, from 1998 to 2011, has been on the faculty there since 1987.
Web Site johnruppert.com
Date: 2011
Medium: Galvanized steel and cast Iron
Dimensions: Installation 72" x 168" x 168" (variable)
Core = galvanized steel 72” x 108”
Rocks = cast iron 42” x 43” x 29”
37” x 21” x 24”
35” x 41” x 20”
Description: The installation dimensions are variable; contextualizing gabion wire with three cast Iron rocks. The rocks originated from one boulder, split by a large industrial breaker nose at the quarry. The grid structure is made from gabion material, used in systems to prevent erosion.
Date: 2011
Medium: Galvanized steel, cast iron
Dimensions: 156” x 60” x 60”
Description: This and the following images illustrate a sculpture installation which combines an iron casting of a fragment of a tree hit by lightning, an architectural cell structure made of gabion wire and a video of koi. The sculpture can be seen under several programed lighting conditions: fully lit, partially lit with video projection, and with just the video projection.
The grid structure is made from gabion material, used in systems to prevent erosion.
Date: 2011
Medium: Galvanized steel, cast iron
Dimensions: 156” x 60” x 60”
Descriptions: This is an image of the sculpture without video projection.
“Sunken Grid with Strike and Koi”
Date: 2011
Medium: Galvanized steel, cast iron and video projection.
Dimensions: 156” x 60” x 60”
Descriptions: This is the installation with the video projection of koi. The images of the koi break up into forms of energy as they pass through the grid system and come back together as they exit the other side. The architectural grid appears to sink into the floor - referencing recent disaster images seen around the world. The video of koi was taken while in Shanghai. Although the sculpture references disaster, according to Asian tradition, the koi represent hope, good luck and the sublime.
“Sunken Grid with Strike and Koi ”
Date: 2011
Medium: Galvanized steel, cast iron and video projection.
Dimensions: 156” x 60” x 60”
Descriptions: This is the installation with the video projection of koi. The images of the koi break up into forms of energy as they pass through the grid system and come back together as they exit the other side. The architectural grid appears to sink into the floor - referencing recent disaster images seen around the world. The video of koi was taken while in Shanghai. Although the sculpture references disaster, according to Asian tradition, the koi represent hope, good luck and the sublime.
Date: 2012
Medium: Split rock, concrete board, Bose radiators (speakers) and sound.
Dimensions: 8' x 40' x 40'
Descriptions: This is a sculpture installation with a stereo sound component. The recording is of ocean waves (rollers) slowly ascending and retracting pushing air through a 40' long by 14' deep crevice in a granite rock off the cost of Maine. The recording documents the respiration of the ocean.
The radiators (speakers) are positioned inside the concrete board structures, allowing the sound to only come out through the slots bracketing the rock on the floor.
Date: 2008
Medium: Crucible (aluminum chain-link fabric), boulders (granite, cast iron, bronze, copper & bronze,) marble dust and video projection of turbulent water.
Dimensions: 10' x 40' x 60'
Descriptions: The video projection is of turbulent water taken off Maine's rocky coast. The chain-link fabric conical form acts as a three-dimensional screen as it captures the video image and abstracts it into a form of visual energy (much like an aurora borealis). The installation references thoughts about the origins of the universe and the primordial soup on earth.
Date: 2009
Medium: Crucible (aluminum chain-link fabric), boulders (granite, cast iron, bronze, copper & bronze,) marble dust and video projection of turbulent water.
Dimensions: 10' x 40' x 60'
Date: 2012
Medium: Cast iron and granite
Dimensions: 48” x 150”
Descriptions: Iron casting of a lightning strike with a glacier boulder. The two are put together juxtaposing a moment in time.
Date: 2012
Medium: Cast iron and granite
Dimensions: 48” x 150”
Descriptions: Iron casting of a lightning strike with a glacier boulder. The two are put together juxtaposing a moment in time.
Date: 2008
Medium: Granite, cast aluminum, bronze, copper and iron
Dimensions: 18"x40"x16" (each) - arrangement variable
Descriptions: The castings were taken from the original granite river jack, which is included in the work. The grouping sets up comparisons between the human made and the natural made, and the different characteristics between metals.
Date: 2008
Medium: Cast Bronze
Dimensions: 18"x40"x16" (each)
Descriptions: Pictured are cast bronze and aluminum castings.
Date: 2008
Medium: Cast iron
Dimensions: 109" x14"x 8"
Descriptions: This is one of a series of castings that are taken from tree fragments that have been blown off of trees struck by lightning.
Date: 2006
Medium: Cast aluminum and sand
Dimensions: 132” x 10” x 5”
Descriptions: Casting of a fragment of a tree hit by lightning.
“Core with Rocks”
“Sunken Grid with Strike”
“Sunken Grid with Strike”
“Memory of a Stone”
“Origins”
“Origins (Detail)”
“Boulder with Strike”
“Boulder with Strike”
“River Jacks”
“River Jacks (Detail)”
“Balzac / Homage to Rodin”
“Aluminum Strike”
