Russell Ratcliff

There is no picture to display. Russell Ratcliff 8580 Diamond Spings Drive Helena, MT 59602 Phone: Contact: Send Email The use of racks as a medium for producing 2-dimensional images is both challenging and rewarding for me. Years of oil painting and studying rocks as a geologist has culminated in my combining geology and art. I would often try to duplicate rock textures in oil paintings, but realized the detail, variety, and optical properties were nearly inpossible to reproduce with paint. Being so enthralled with the possibilities the rocks held, I turend to them as my primary medium. Within each rock are beauty and a geologic history. Each rock type has been subjected to varying amounts of hear, pressure, recrystallization, deformation, alteration, and weathering. Many of the rock relationships I use in my art could never occur naturally due to their differing environments of formation. Yet the forces driving the planet expose a multitude of rock types that I can use to express an idea, place or situation. I cannot compete with the rocks for variety and complexity, but I can use rock relationships to present my interpretations of the world, real or imagined. The rocks cannot be changed or reworked easily, therefore I let the rocks take the lead on an idea. If they can't be forced into a situation, I change the image to fit the rock or find a more suitable rock. Balancing what I want and what the rocks can provide is part of my creative proccess and often results in strange or surreal compositions. Ultimately, I want the rocks and the image to work together in providing a literal bond between the physical and the artistic worlds.

Listed Artwork:   (Click on one to view more information about that artwork) Aerial #2 Aerial #3 Arroyo Big Green Butterfly Blue Call of the Wild Desert Heat Droplets Fenced In Gateway Layer Upon Layer Mirage North Shore Pothole Country Shadow of Redhawk Slice of Carbon Stack Around Stretch Cubes Stump Swan The Resting Log Trading Planes Treeo Trangle Untitled Wheel