Ruth Bullock is a figural and portrait painter whose works illuminate the dignity and grace of her sitters. Bullock’s works and practice, what she sometimes refers to as “projects,” includes bodies that are not always represented by art galleries
Other Works Highlighted in the Show!
Script: Ruth Bullock is a figural and portrait painter whose works, her celebratory portrayals of people, illuminate the dignity and grace of her sitters. Bullock’s works and practice, what she sometimes refers to as “projects,” includes bodies that are not always represented by art galleries. She painted a woman with a colostomy bag and in another painting, a 60 year wears a tutu with a horse. Bullock feels “that different bodies needed to be more visible and celebrated—as we will see she started with herself.” She sculpts in her painted figures a new, refreshing way to experience the body and your world. Today’s episode will include a conversation with the artist. Ruth Bullock lives “across the pond” from America in England, about 40 minutes outside of London. Our first meeting was on face time. Ruth is so delightful, funny, and loving, yet serious in her work.
What first captured my attention to Ruth’s works is her self-portrait, a homage to the female painter Alice Neel and her self-portrait composed at 84 years old. In Neel’s remarkable portrayal of an artist at work, she sits naked at the edge of her blue and white striped chair—Neel, in her unabashed portrayal of an elderly female form, fully nude, holds a paintbrush in one hand, and in the other a rag- Her 80 year old body, exposes sagging breasts and protruding belly -it is a body of a woman who birthed four children, raised two sons and worked at an easel for over six decades. The concentration of her stare, emphasized by the glasses that her aging eyes needed in order to see her reflection is the serous and steady gaze of a great artist. She is central and sole subject of the work. In Bullock’s self portrait, she, like Neel is an elderly woman, titled, Self Portrait after Alice Neel, the artist is fully nude, sitting in a turquoise green chair against a bright yellow background. She wields a paintbrush in one hand and in the other a white, crumpled rag. Unlike Neel whose body is in profile, Bullock faces forward, her aging female form, the sagging breasts atop small folds in her belly, her knees are closed, bare feet protrude into the foreground. What is striking is her gaze, behind her round glasses, her wide eyes twinkle—she smiles with this confidence fully present in her nakedness. Neel’s self-portrait is contoured in blue, her form built up through hues of color. Bullock’s body follows a more traditional academic approach—Neel’s pensive facial expression counters the gleam in Bullock’s eye; as noted, both women hold the tools of their trade, the rag and paint brush—their naked bodies expose the essence of who they are, a woman, an aging woman, a visual artist(People Come First Exhibition catalogue)
Bullock’s self portrait is a portal to an aspect of her work in portraiture that I so enjoyed exploring, representations of the transgender figure. It is inspired, in part, by her trans grandson. She posts on her IG profile progressions of a portrait of her grandson, getting sunburned, the contours of his pale skin juxtaposed to the deep red flesh is in the shape of his binding. Binding, is layers of fabric that provide a flat chest contour; his hands cover his chest, his lovely face looks serene as he gazes directly at the viewer, his strawberry blonde hair is short and slightly tousled.
In the visual arts, “transgender,” is an umbrella term. It includes people with a gender identity that is opposite to their assigned sex. It is also people who identify as non-binary or belonging to the third gender. Non-binary is used to describe someone whose gender identity isn’t exclusively male or female. Artists like early 20th century Claude Cahun. Cahun constructed extraordinary self portraits in which genders are swapped and mixed. In Cahun’s 1927 photograph, titled, “Self Portrait,” Cahun wears a “circus costume with appliqué nipples arranged atop a sheathe to Cahun’s bound chest. The emblazoned message pleads “I am in training don’t kiss me.” Cahun’s hair is shaped into kiss-curls, the lips are garishly rouged, on each cheek is a painted heart—Cahun looks like a china doll, “Gender that strays beyond the female/male binary is a thread that runs through Cahun, artist’s life and work. It started with the adopted, unisex name Claude (Cahun was born Lucy Schwab) –Cahun’s carefully staged photographs, the gaze in each image looks directly at the viewer, offers negotiations with the gender binary as the artist wears costumes Cahun said, “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.” (Alex Pilcher)
Bullock’s commitment to “celebrate the person” is beautifully expressed in the portrait of trans woman Emma, her full name is Emma Frankland. What is interesting in Bullock’s approach to her portrayals of people is her discussions with the models or sitters. She compassionately negotiates “how they wish to be seen.” Her portraits are collaborative Emma is fully nude, her body is thin and lithe, she has a few tattoos, notably there is a woman roller blader displayed on her left thigh. She is framed in a circular gold foil background—her hands brace the edges of the circle,-from Bullock’s IG profile, you can see stages of the painting-Bullock generously shares her artistic process through social media. In an earlier versions of the painting, Emma is sitting in a round chair, this is replaced by the gold foil, it appears at least for me more like a large halo, like she is stepping out from another world into ours—the deep gold brings a soft light to Emma’s peaches and cream skin tone, her head is tilted upwards, her thick dark hair swept back, her eyes, lowered look back at us, unapologetic. In Emma’s response to Bullock’s portrayl of her, she says, “I am so proud of my body, my trans body, my girl body, my fucking resilient, gender-hacked body..To see myself finally comfortable in nakedness is such an enormous feeling, one I hadn’t even realized I had been waiting for. It’s like finally exhaling after a long time. It will still be a long journey to convince my inner image of myself to align with the reality, but I appreciate and cherish these moments of soft unguardedness—before the armor needs to be worn again to protect me from the world.” For me, in my looking experience, even before I read Emma’s comments, I made connections between Bullock’s portrait of Emma with early representations or portraits of Christian saints and figures anchored in gold background, representing the heavens. Bullock elevates Emma’s status (iconic) Emma is also an artist and performer—Emma Frankland, she is an award winning theatre-maker and performer whose practice is focused on politically motivated performances surround issues of gender and identity relating to her own experiences as a trans woman including a series of performance pieces called “none of Us is Yet a Robot.” I plan to explore Frankland her evocative work in a future podcast. Stay tuned for that. .
In the portrait of Islan Nettles, Bullock combines abstract with the figural. The young trans-woman died brutally at the hands of 25 year old James Dixon, who beat her to death because as he proclaimed, “his manhood was threatened.” Dixon’s initial attraction to Nettles, who wore feminine attire and presented herself as a female, changed to anger when one of his friends yelled, “That’s a man.” Bullock’s memorial to this young victim, she does a series of other murdered trans women, is expressive, her face, pencil thin eyebrows frame her wide-eyes and full lips, black hair is pulled back to reveal her regal, high forehead—swathes of bright blue, orange, green and yellow painted atop sections of her face help to build up the form, creating a more complex view of Nettles, scripted below are the words “Say Her Name,”
Artists like Bullock portray the person, she challenges us to see above identity, above gender—when you contemplate her paintings, you experience them. Bullock amplifies the voices of all people—she composes through their bodies, an essence that you cannot define by words.” It is Bullock celebrating the whole person. Allow me to turn my mic and invite you in my conversation with Ruth Bullock—
Contemporary Trans artists, like Emma, are radically changing the landscape of contemporary art working in array of artistic media, photography, video, sculpture, painting—they share their stories, their experiences and challenge our current understanding of identity while paving the way for a more aware and accepting future. (Marta Bryll) Art is a great way to bring more visibility to the LGBTQ community whose culture is rich and extensive. And I admire greatly artists, allies to the LGBTQ community who amplify the voices of trans people like Ruth Bullock in her beautiful and evocative portrayals.
Bullock’s visual representations, her commitment to inclusivity, include evocative and beautiful portrayals of transgender. They challenge us, the viewer to see above gender and identity and instead experience the essence and beauty of the body, the trans body. Her awareness of this complicated topic of the body is shaped in part by her love and relationship with her trans grandson. Bullock non-trans person, Bullock is committed to portray people who may have a different gender identity to them or presents their gender in a different way.