Forum 81: Ruth Root

Ruth Root, the 81st installment of our Forum series will debut a new body of work by acclaimed New York–based painter Ruth Root. With a jolt of pattern and shape, Root’s eccentric paintings dazzle and perplex with their play of geometry, color, and found images. These new works are composed of two parts involving a shaped panel painted with acrylic and spray paint suspended from a flexible sewn form covered with the artist’s own fabric designs. Incorporating found imagery from news media, art history, online search engines, and objects from Carnegie Museum of Art’s own collection, Root creates eye-popping patterns. Physically and visually unruly, these large-scale works push the boundaries of the medium and embrace the complexities of the visible world.