RUTH PASTINE | COLORSCAPE
April 11 – May 30, 2026
Scott Richards Contemporary Art is pleased to present Colorscape, a solo exhibition of new paintings by California-based artist Ruth Pastine. The exhibit is on view from April 11 through May 30, 2026, opening with a reception for the artist on Saturday, April 11, from 4 -6 pm. Widely recognized for her luminous and meditative minimalist paintings, Pastine creates atmospheric fields of color that unfold through subtle tonal transitions and layered pigment. The exhibition coincides with an upcoming solo presentation at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in Malibu, California in May 2026, marking an important moment of institutional recognition for the artist.
Colorscape brings together a new group of atmospheric compositions of varied sizes that seem to float before our eyes, elegantly stretched upon beveled supports. Built through countless layers of oil paint, these ethereal works hover between presence and immateriality, inviting quiet introspection.
“My work explores the phenomenological experience of color, light, and space in individual paintings and multi-panel installations,” Pastine has said. “The painting process affords the opportunity to be present in the extended moment, and the paintings come from this spaciousness that perceptually unfolds over time.”
Rooted in the visual language of West Coast Light and Space and Color Field painting, Ruth Pastine’s work transforms color into an immersive, emotional field in which chromatic hues become both subject and atmosphere. In this way, her paintings invite the kind of contemplative encounter associated with the work of Mark Rothko, where color functions as a psychological and spatial experience rather than a descriptive element. This effect is reinforced through the soft-edged bands of color and luminous atmosphere that characterize her work.
Although rendered entirely through meticulous brushwork, Pastine’s paintings share a perceptual affinity with the light environments of James Turrell and the luminous installations of Dan Flavin, where color and light function as immersive spatial phenomena that alter perception itself. In each of her works, the gradual tonal transitions between hues are nearly imperceptible, producing a radiant chromatic environment in which color seems to hover and shift with the viewer’s movement and the surrounding light. Indigo blues dissolve into deep violet, magenta reds pulse with bold intensity, and turquoise greens radiate across the surface, each composition unfolding its own chromatic atmosphere and sensual optical experience.
Ruth Pastine has exhibited widely, and her paintings are held in numerous private, corporate, and world-renowned public collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles; and the Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA, among others.
A dedicated artist monograph, Ruth Pastine: Limitless, is forthcoming.
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 11, 2026, 4 – 6 pm
Exhibition Dates: April 11 – May 30, 2026
Location: Scott Richards Contemporary Art. 501 Pacific Avenue San Francisco, CA
Press Contact: Alina Richards, Scott Richards Contemporary Art | alina@srcart.com 415-205-4197
Check gallery website for hours and additional info
