Brie Ruais
Uncontrollable Drifting Inward and Outward Together (130lbs times two)
Ongoing
I see these as a balancing of opposites, a kind of turning of the cosmic sphere, night and day, sun and moon, dark and light; false binaries that suggest one can be had without the other, but they reaffirm each other, and coexist in balance (with effort).
—Brie Ruais
Spanning an entire wall of the Lancaster Lobby, Brie Ruais’ Uncontrollable Drifting Inward and Outward Together (130lbs times two) (2021) is the latest large-scale artwork to be discovered in the Museum.
Ruais (American, born 1982) creates ceramic sculptures through a performative process in which she scrapes, pushes, and pulls unformed clay—the equivalent of her body weight—into expressive formations. Working in quick energetic bursts, usually only 15 minutes at a time, she describes this process as one of literally and philosophically “spreading outward from the center.” The artist’s interaction with the clay, her visceral manipulation of this most elemental of art materials, is recorded within the sculpture’s final form. The strength of her creative act is juxtaposed with the relative fragility of the work as a fired ceramic.
Contemporary art installations in common spaces at WAM are supported by the Fletcher Foundation, Larry and Marla Curtis, the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund, the John M. Nelson Fund, and Marlene and David Persky.
Nevena Prijic
Voyager
Ongoing
Howard G. and Esther Freeman Hall (320)
Nevena Prijic (Serbian, born 1985) has been commissioned to create a monumental painting directly on the walls of the Worcester Art Museum. Located within a twenty-foot-tall blind archway, Voyager is inspired by speculative possibilities suggested by the portal-like space.
Prijic creates enigmatic and dynamic paintings that blend abstraction and figuration. Though futuristic in overall aesthetic, Voyager has an ancient reference at its center inspired by artifacts of the Neolithic Vinca culture of present-day Serbia, the artist’s homeland. A standing figure is obscured as it metamorphosizes into a variety of animate forms: plants, animals, and machines. Prijic’s biomorphic form suggests a similarity between species and systems as well as the transformative power of evolution.
Prijic earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting from The University of Novi Sad, Academy of Fine Arts, Serbia. Her work has recently been exhibited at M+B Gallery (Los Angeles), Hesse Flatow (New York City), Bozomag (Los Angeles), and Public Gallery (London). Prijic lives and works in Los Angeles.
American Art
Ongoing
The third-floor American art galleries feature portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and decorative arts from the 17th–19th centuries, including iconic works by Albert Bierstadt and Winslow Homer, the famed portraits of John and Elizabeth Freake, and examples of early-American folk art.
Often telling only the story the sitters wanted to reveal, there is more to learn behind many paintings from this period. Stay tuned to our email newsletter and social media for updates on the exciting future of American art at the Worcester Art Museum.