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> There is something inherently dramatic in the conflict of a figure
> at a window, watching the world outside, while existing in a
> different world inside. Kay Ruane’s new drawings in Room with a View
> embrace and enhance this conflict, giving the viewer a group of tiny
> graphite worlds in which Ruane’s distinctive and highly crafted
> style is enhanced by a subtle dose of humor and sexuality. The work
> lures the viewer into a richly appointed, vaguely familiar room only
> to suddenly invade this tranquility by juxtaposing it with a sense
> of doom and disaster as inflicted by the scene outside the window.
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> Physics seems to present a scene of a woman enjoying an afternoon
> cocktail while looking out the window, until one notices the plane
> crashing outside, presenting an uncomfortable contrast: how can she
> rest so serenely while observing the tragedy outside? Similarly,
> Empress shows the figure contemplating a pagoda while a helicopter
> flies over it to douse the unseen flames threatening to envelope it
> like a forest fire. Each drawing also manifests a theme in its
> treatment of details, with exacting and microscopic attention paid
> to specifics, like the title of a book thrown carelessly on a table
> or an anonymous painting on the wall. These themes sometimes explore
> another aspect of detachment, one related to a cultural
> disconnection between the figure and the minutiae of her space. The
> detailed objects inside evoke a sense of longing in the figure, who
> seems to want to be part of a different physical reality and the
> culture it embodies, while at the same time, she is unwilling to
> leave the safety of her interior world in order to experience that
> other world outside the window.
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> As with the meticulous painters of the Northern Renaissance, Ruane’s
> drawings are crafted with the utmost precision and care; she offers
> a world in which even a small detail, like the trophy on the wall in
> Hound, could stand alone as a piece of art itself. Similar to
> painters like Van Eyck, Ruane spends an extensive amount of time
> perfecting every detail of each piece; a single drawing often
> requires building up as many as seven layers of graphite, with each
> pass adding more detail and tonal range in order for her to create
> an end result that is precisely perfected and flawless.
>