Influenced by man-made environmental catastrophes, personal narrative, and ecological systems, Kate Rusek assembles highly tactile sculptures transmuting this landscape into abundant maximalism. Engaging with history laden excess, they shape scenes that interrogate the binary between the living and manufactured worlds. Synthetic and highly processed elements are combined as an action to transmute urban ruin into an anti-economic act of rebellion. Rusek has recently carried this approach into a ceramics practice, embracing the chaos of clay and heat, coaxing transformation in a new way. Through her work, Rusek posits a regenerative future and poses questions about psychological perception, the valuable, and a care ethic through a lens of sensual abundance.
Kate Rusek lives and works in Queens, NY. Selected exhibitions include Ely Center of Contemporary Art, Mizuma, Kips, and Wada, The Gallery of Visual Arts at The University of Montana, 440 Gallery, Portal Art Fair, and La Bodega Gallery. They are a recipient of a Wingate Distinguished Fellowship for Innovation in Craft. Rusek has been awarded residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Willapa Bay AIR, The Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, among others. Her work is included in private collections across the country. Rusek earned dual B.F.As from The University of Miami and an MA from Savannah College of Art and Design. Additionally, Kate Rusek is a Daytime Emmy winning designer and builder of costumes, puppets, and props and brings her process based curiosity to work across the television and film industry.