Interview with the Artist
Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin

This week, I interviewed Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin, an artist featured in BMoA’s current exhibition One Night in California: Contemporary Nocturnes. Now living in Northern California, Mendelsohn Rubin studied painting at UCLA during the 1970s. She resisted the trends of conceptual art with her decision to paint representational content early in her career. Mendelsohn Rubin’s attention is focused on creating a composition with the strength to hold the eyes’ attention. She states, “I am careful to keep myself poised and attentive for the discovery of compelling and relevant subject matter quietly hidden in the corners of everyday life.” The physical world has consistently fueled her work; scenes and images must prove themselves by showing up in the artists' memory then reappearing subconsciously, enforcing that the physical is tethered to the conceptual. Below she discusses her incredible career and how her practice shifts when depicting the night.

RM - Your work has proven to be some of the most captivating on display in the exhibition. I have witnessed staff and visitors enter the space and be pulled directly to your paintings, I find myself revisiting them and finding new details with each visit. What is it that excites you about painting a nighttime scene?

SMR - In the absences of daylight ... all is abstracted in the subtle nuance of shadow. The physical world is transformed - mysterious and suggestive as if in a waking dream. Light in the darkness becomes jewel-like - it's radiation adding to the pulse of the drama. Painting outside at night awakens all the senses. It is a vulnerable state, and exciting challenge to decipher, and at the same time makes me mindful of the greater cosmic perspective. 

RM: How does your process shift when depicting nocturnes?

SMR:  Night paintings require working on-site from direct observation. There is no substitute. Color interpretation, the perception of space, and the dynamic contrast of light and dark must be observed directly. If an extension cord and outlet are not accessible, I use a 12-volt battery pack with a 25-watt halogen light and tripod stand. Anything brighter will create a halo of light around me causing interference. It is tricky! .... and takes getting used to!

RM:  Your work has varied significantly throughout your career. What motivates your stylistic and thematic changes?

SMR: Just as I have grown and changed, so too has my work. Growing up in L.A., my early work related to the L.A. landscape. There were periods of studio still lifes done at that time as well as an occasional self-portrait. When my husband and I moved to a rural area of Northern California, it was a very dramatic adjustment. I was overwhelmed by the landscape. As a result, I started to bring things inside. It took many years of living through the seasons before finding a starting place that brought me back to the landscape. Living surrounded by nature and closer to the elements has changed my perception and awareness. That, in addition to our fragile environment, as well as forces in our changing world, are now having influence and impact on my work. My most recent work can be viewed at LA Louver or Winfield Gallery.

The detailed studies for each of the above L.A. paintings done in my portable studio 1965 International step van – portable studio parked-on site.

RM: What are you currently working on?

SMR:  Attached is a studio shot of a two-part painting (in the center) that I just completed. While on two surfaces, I consider this one painting. I am now finishing up another two-part painting of a coyote at night (pictured on the left). It is one of several animal paintings done from photographs taken with my infrared field camera placed out at night. It is a new direction which will take time to fully realize.

One Night in California: Contemporary Nocturnes opened in January of 2020 at Bakersfield Museum of Art and is scheduled to run through August 2020. The exhibition, organized by Winfield Gallery and Bakersfield Museum of Art, highlights over 20 artists and examines how the environment and vitality of California continues to stimulate reinterpretations of the nocturnal landscape and the mystery that accompanies it. 

Rachel Magnus
Curator
Bakersfield Museum of Art 

Paintings by Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin.

All images courtesy of the artist unless otherwise stated.