Mapping the Artist: Cristina Ruggiero

Cristina Ruggiero and Kathabela Wilson

Cristina Ruggiero, a passionate artist, a fairly newcomer to Pasadena -and the Arbor Academy of Art & Gallery (formerly known as the Colonnade Art Gallery)- impresses with the iconic paintings of her homeland, Argentina. She reaches deep into her roots as they rise strongly and surely to the surface of her images.

By Kathabela Wilson

A telescope on the artist

“Hill of Seven Colors” by Cristina Ruggiero

How do you see yourself as an artist in the world, what can the artist do?

Like ancient icons, I want each painting to be a window through which a part of my story could be revealed to myself and the viewer. Each of us has a story and we find keys to unlock it. Once I opened the “door” I understood the keys to the “sacred expression” of who I am now is through making a strong touch with my native Argentina. I began a series of paintings that depict places in Argentina significant to me, as well as people or legends, traditions and past or present events which were very much a part of my childhood experience and remain a part of me still.

A microscope on the artist

Cristina Ruggiero

I was especially drawn to your work because of this feeling of depth and iconic significance, what are the seeds of your work and your inspirations?

My work has been greatly inspired by Victor Brossa and Art of Conscience, which believes in restoring art to its inherent place as the sacred expression of the self.  The creative process is as a door to inner knowledge. A door to where memories are found and transform to reality.  The conscious artist creates from the heart and through the imagination recognizes the doors opening to true wisdom.

A compass on the artist

Grito Leguero by Cristina Ruggiero.

Where is your art going now, where is it leading you, where will it take us?

I feel a strong inward pull into the gardens that inspire me. You can see this in “The Shaman’s Song” It is a very recent painting that took me along with it. It captures the inner passion I feel and the wonder for gathering the images of the past to understand the present. The inner passion is almost audible; I felt this as I painted “Grito Leguero”. The ecstatic playing of the indigenous Argentinian drum, and the passionate playing of Mercedes Sosa (1935 – 2009). The leguero so named can be heard leagues away, made of a hollow tree trunk, with animal fur left on the drumhead its sound is deep and dark.  All this intrigues me, lures to a deep contact with the source of my life, and into my paintings.

Surveying the artist

“Famatina” ©Cristina Ruggiero.

You are new to Pasadena, how does it figure in your art?

I look out the window in Pasadena and a garden flourishes. It draws me to itself, and to the artists here. Came recently from Indiana to join my daughter, who lives in Pasadena, I already feel a strong contact with artists that share my passions, and the community at The Arbor Academy of Art & Gallery.

“Shamans Song” ©Cristina Ruggiero.

>You can see more about Cristina Ruggiero ‘s work on her blog.