Artist – Paul Ruiz

Recently I have been having a look around for more artists to take inspiration from for this project, through some extensive searching I came across Paul W Ruiz. A contemporary artist, his oil painting of the human figure I found interesting.

You can visit his website here

http://www.paulwruiz.com/

And a BlogSpot interview

http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2008/08/art-space-talk-paul-ruiz.html

Following on from my previous research, it was the mysterious dark look to the work that I found particularly attractive, combined with the grain achieved from the think paint being drawn across the textured surface of the canvas. It added a rustic look to the work, tying in with the points I made about the illustrative work I looked at before. Making the work look rougher, dated and aged, rather than pristine and clean (new). Here are a few examples of my favourite pieces.



Untitled Man 2007 oil on linen



Saltimbanque 2008 oil on linen



El Desconocido 2008 oil on linen



Ausencia May 2008 oil on linen

The surrounding theme of this research is the fact that I want my work to look dated, I want the game to look like you’re playing in the period it is set, rather than modern and sleek. What better way to achieve than this through the artistic style. When I look at old war photos, they have an element of eeriness about them. Not only because you know what happened during the war but the way they are presented, often in greyscale from odd angles, and in a poor grainy quality. Rarely do you see a pristine colour photograph of everyone ready for the camera and smiling.