Rita Leroux: Walls
June 5 - July 4, 2010
The Wailing Wall 2008 Berlin Wall 2008
Oil on Canvas 60cm x 60 cm Oil on Canvas 60cm x 60 cm
Rita Leroux's artworks are inspired by her personal encounters with people and cultures during her extensive world travels. Her paintings are often characterized by a vivid use of colour and bold style. Thirty years ago Rita visited Berlin. As a tourist she held the privilege to freely pass through the wall to move from West to East. The memory of seeing Berliners stuck on both sides, forbidden to cross, inspired her painting 'Berlin Wall'.
Rita’s painting, 'The Wailing Wall', depicts the “Wailing Wall” (also: Western Wall) located in Jerusalem, which is a holy site for the Jewish people, in the disputed city of Jerusalem. A city holly to the three main Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Rita’s 'Walls' series trespasses beyond the mere functional value of walls to consider their social, political and religious implication, and the roll they play in human interactions.
Rita has been a student of painting at the Taller Rufino Tamayo, in Oaxaca Mexico and Emily Carr College of Art and Design, in Vancouver, BC. A recent painting was chosen by jury to be part of a collective show of Oaxacan artists, that was exhibited in Museo Del Palacio in Oaxaca Mexico. The published exhibit catalogue Nueva Vision provides a showcase of the works of 60 emerging Oaxacan artists.
