Christoph Ruckhaberle
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Christoph Ruckhaberle (born 1972, Pfaffenhofen, Germany) is an artist based in Leipzig.
Ruckhaberle studied at the California Institute of the Arts [1] from 1991-1992, and received his BFA in painting – in 1995 – and his MFA – in 2002 - from Hochschule fur Grafik und Buchkunst [2] in Leipzig.
His work has been shown in many exhibitions including the 2nd Prague Biennale, “Malerei” at LIGA Gallery [3] in Berlin and “Klarapark” at Marianne Boesky [4] in New York and. Ruckhaberle has exhibited internationally at galleries including Arario Gallery [5] in Korea, Nicolai Wallner [6] in Copenhagen and Ghislaine Hussenot in Paris. Ruckhaberle is represented by Sutton Lane [7] in London and Paris, Nicolai Wallner [8] in Copenhagen, Galerie Kleindienst [9] in Leipzig and Zach Feuer Gallery[10] in New York and Los Angeles.
Christoph Ruckhaberle’s leisurely scenes operate like dysfunctional stage plays. Cribbed from all the best bits of art history, he imbues his paintings with a contemporary newness of vivid patterns and design colours. His elaborate sets are backdrops of static energy against which his cast nonchalantly mingles: placid and bored, unaware of their own interaction with an expectant audience. Charmed by the pure casualness of it all, his paintings offer the possibility of getting lost in a moment, a luxuriating pause where visual harmony is appreciated as inert ideal.
Ruckhaberle approaches figurative painting from a purely formalist standpoint. His elaborate configurations don’t strive to depict narrative, but rather offer perverse pleasure in the idiosyncrasy of their construction. His avant gardist compositions break down into absurd abstractions: contorted bodies, silhouetted trees, tea pots and parasols become intriguing excuses to render complex systems of repetitive circles, squares and interlinking patterns. Ruckhaberle’s folksy style gives a casual air to his balanced formal tension, consciously understating his wry visual humour, and clever citation of Matisse and Max Beckmann.
Ruckhaberle’s work instils a sense of isolation and detachment: his figures are frozen in self-contained realms of thought, their painterly existence derived solely for the pleasure of creating visual suspense. Through this precarious balance of psychological intimacy, and cool, stylised aesthetics, Ruckhaberle contrives a soothing comfort through which an underlying anxiety passes almost unnoticed.
