Selected Art Installations & Studio Projects

 In 2018, Rudd added pyramid and dagger relief components to his large collage works. Although executed with traditional materials (ink, acrylic enamel on archival paper), the artwork is far from "traditional."  The works vary in size but the larger ones are generally 7.5 feet high by 16, 32, or 48 feet wide with a depth of up to 4 feet.

In 1987, Rudd uniquely developed in cooperation with G.E. Plastics (continued with Sabic Innovative Plastics in 2011), the first blow-molded, clear polycarbonate (Lexan™) sculptures ever made.  These monumental sculptures incorporate many of the traditional characteristics of glass blowing, but with a strength, complexity and scale not possible with glass.  In some of the sculptures, color was incorporated by adding pigments into the liquid plastic before the forming of the shapes.  The 2011 sculptures created at Sabic are circular and larger than his earlier blow-molded polycarbonate sculptures.  

Berkshire Art Museum Annex, 82 Summer Street, Post Office Square, North Adams opened to the public in December 2001;  Installed in a historic church, artist Eric Rudd’s massive sculptural epic has been created for both an art experience and private meditation. Over 150 life-size figures, 250 low-relief ceiling figures plus Sept. 11 memorial. 

 "A Future for Art!" The most unusual art exhibition in the world. Take an actual ride in the "Sensory Integrator" through creative space. Introcave, "A Future for Art" with Walter Hopps, Gateway Station, "Sensory Integrator" ride, Space Sculpture Garden, Purity Vacuum, Artifacts Gallery.  First opened to the public in 1996,  the Dark Ride Project stayed open to the public for ten years before closing.  The ride portion has been converted to exhibition space but the Dark Ride Sculpture Garden, Purity Vacuum, and other components have been restored for permanent exhibition, now part of the Berkshire Art Museum's summer programming. 

 Leonardo da Vinci designed flying machines.  In the 500 years since da Vinci’s time, artists have involved themselves with the sky and space. With the beginning of the space age, artists around the world have dreamed of putting art into space. An artwork rocketed into outer space is exhibited in the ultimate “public space gallery,” even if the only way the public will “see” the artwork is through video transmissions to earth. In 2000, artist Eric Rudd worked with a private satalite company for two years and almost was able to launch a sculpture into outer-space until international events curtailed the project. 

 A large-scale art installation involving autonomous robotic sculptures, moving about a landscape environment, attempting to carry out each creature’s goals.  This work took four years to build, establishing the first (university level) robotic arts program in the nation; it was built within the physics’ department of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (Dr. William Seeley, Chair), North Adams, MA. 

INTRODUCTION TO THE ROBOTIC “WALTER’S ONTOGEN”

The robotic “Walter’s Ontogen” by Eric Rudd (1999) might be seen as one of the few pioneering sculptures in the sphere of robotic and moving sculptures. 

In 2011, Rudd once again secured access to the blow-molding facilities at Sabic Plastics (formerly G.E. Plastics where the artist first used Lexan ™ industrial blow-molding facilities starting in 1987).  During his work sessions at Sabic, the artist created sculptures using circular formats (three are on display in the iceberg installation on the museum’s main level).  While completing his 2011 sculptures, Rudd decided to return to flat rectangular surfaces for work that could be done within his own studio facilities. The last time his work focused on rectangular formats was for his 1970-71 Grid Series (a few are exhibited in the lower galleries).  Returning to traditional stretched canvases, Rudd used the technique of collage by applying paint and ink on archival paper which he then adhered onto canvas.  The earliest of the Four Big Collages presented on the main gallery level is from 2011 and shows a similar fluidity embedded in his circular Lexan sculptures made about the same time.  While maintaining an organic painted surface treatment, Rudd gradually tightened his collaged compositions using angular shapes which eventually evolved into triangular shapes. In addition to the large collage works, Rudd continued the collage process in smaller motifs.  

  Rudd soon tired of the weight and complexity of the construction in his Dormer Series.  He returned to traditional rectangular formats, feeling the canvases were “windows viewing into his spatial structures.”  His Grid series comprised over 50 paintings, many 18 to 22 feet wide and completed in a two-year period in 1970-1971.  After completing a few paintings using acrylic paint, the artist incorporated a more sculptural surface with the use of a vinyl chip and resin floor material where the artist could apply colors as “dry paint.”  These paintings, mostly created when the artist was 21 and 22 years old, were also shown at the Jefferson Place Gallery and elsewhere, including his first one-person museum show at the Corcoran Museum in 1973.  

Eric Rudd’s Eagle Street Beach (1999) appears to be the first documented urban beach of its kind in the U.S., and quite possibly the first in the world to use the concept in a temporary, community-art framework. It preceded and likely inspired similar efforts that followed. Each year, hundreds of families make sand sculptures on the urban beach.  2025 is its 25th annual event (absent two Covid years). 

 "A Future for Art!" The most unusual art exhibition in the world. Take an actual ride in the "Sensory Integrator" through creative space. Introcave, "A Future for Art" with Walter Hopps, Gateway Station, "Sensory Integrator" ride, Space Sculpture Garden, Purity Vacuum, Artifacts Gallery.  First opened to the public in 1996, the components of the Dark Ride Project can be installed in any museum space.  

 Two large outdoor sculptures have been installed on the lawn of the Berkshire Art Museum.  The Albasauras is from 1977 and the "caged" sculpture, "Stanley, Rick, Harry and Tonto" was created in 1979 and first shown in downtown Washington D.C. 

Even with Rudd's major abstract work using innovative processes, Rudd has continued to  do figurative artwork.  Along with the monumental "A Chapel for Humanity" and other sculptural figurative installations, Rudd has constantly created drawings using the figure.   The Rudd Art Foundation has about 5,000 of his drawings created from 2000 to 2014. 

Figure drawings, executed in ink, acrylic, pencil and other mediums, show the fast and gesture style of the artist.  On view at the Berkshire Art Museum's annex (A Chapel for Humanityare several framed drawings on paper as well as a few on canvas. 

Although art classes at American University geared students to deal with traditional still life and figure subject matter, Rudd was affected first by exposure to European abstract-expressionist artists, and then by two more powerful art influences - Minimal Art and the Washington Color School- both of which had gained international attention.  Transitioning from non-objective expressionist paintings created in the mid-1960s, the artist created paintings using geometric and controlled shapes, and then applied collaged shapes in large plywood constructions.  

With the move to his second studio in downtown Washington D.C., the artist continued to experiment in both minimal and sculptural formats.  Rudd expanded his paintings as wall constructions; the surface treatment of his first canvas constructions echoed work by other minimal artists, but Rudd's individual compositions were unique, especially how they came off the wall onto the floor and into the gallery space.  By 1967, these works erupted with Rudd's desire to make sculptures, and he soon engaged help to build his first three-dimensional large sculptures.  Securing necessary tools, he then taught himself the carpentry skills to build additional large sculptures, minimalist in style, with each one almost touching all the walls of his small studio.  One aspect that made his style unique was the way he then broke up the real shapes with painted shapes of different colors. 

Rudd moved into his first townhouse in downtown Washington D.C., where he could live and work.  However, emotional pressures built, and he sought refuge by going to England.  There, with limited equipment and resources, he made a series of paintings about sculptures using basic perspective.  Through an adjacent sign company, he also experimented with a variety of new techniques of metal constructions and engraving on Plexiglas.   

Upon his return to Washington D.C. at age 20, Rudd settled down and began in earnest making large wall constructions, where he mastered complicated illusion and perspective techniques to make them seem three-dimensional.  The shaped constructions were painted on canvas stretched over wood supported forms. These highly refined works were shown in a one-person show at the Jefferson Place Gallery in 1969 to high praise.

Rudd soon tired of the weight and complexity of the construction in his Dormer Series.  He returned to traditional rectangular formats, feeling the canvases were “windows viewing into his spatial structures.”  His Grid series comprised over 50 paintings, many 18 to 22 feet wide and completed in a two-year period in 1970-1971.  After completing a few paintings using acrylic paint, the artist incorporated a more sculptural surface with the use of a vinyl chip and resin floor material where the artist could apply colors as “dry paint.”  These paintings, mostly created when the artist was 21 and 22 years old, were also shown at the Jefferson Place Gallery and elsewhere, including his first one-person museum show at the Corcoran Museum in 1973.  

After two years of creating Grids, Rudd wanted to loosen up, and started initially breaking apart the grid compositions.  The free-floating plank forms soon led to wall relief constructions called his Plank series.  Wanting to eliminate the weight concerns of lumber that he used in his earlier Dormer constructions, Rudd invented ways of using very dense, polyurethane foam sheets and hardening epoxies, although they were complicated to build.  With a looser surface treatment, these large reliefs anticipated what other artists achieved a few years later. 

Becoming familiar with spray polyurethane foam proved career changing for Rudd as he continued to 'loosen' up his art after so many years of self-imposed disciplined work.  After experimenting with spray-in-place polyurethane foam in 1973, Rudd purchased the industrial equipment, got trained on its use and maintenance, and for the next 35 years, polyurethane foam was his primary sculpture medium.  The artist created many wall constructions as well as larger and more complexed three-dimensional sculptures.  His foam reliefs were first shown at the Jefferson Place Gallery in 1974, curated by museum director Walter Hopps.

Using his industrial spray equipment and expanding the process of rigid spray polyurethane foam, Rudd created large free-formed standing and hanging sculptures.  These sculptures would be much more difficult using traditional materials. After making the structures, the surfaces were painted with heavy acrylic enamel paints.  The few sculptures for outdoor installation were additionally coated with clear sealants. 

Although the majority of his artworks were non-objective, employing innovative concepts and technologies, Rudd enjoyed figurative drawing.  In 1973, Rudd began to employ rigid spray polyurethane foam to create figurative sculptures as a separate but parallel interest.  His largest figurative work in this medium, “A Chapel for Humanity,” was begun in 1990 and has been on permanent public view since 2001.  It contains more than 150 life-sized figures, and 54 ceiling panels.  Other figurative works and drawings are also on view. at the Berkshire Art Museum and at the Rudd Art Foundation-Museum.

The artist manipulated free-formed shapes in sculptural compositions with a variety of materials.  Starting in 1976, Rudd did many paper assemblages where the shapes were stiffened with foam and combined into his Ontogen series.  Beginning in 1977, he created a series of rectangular columns, both solid and glass, where the foam shapes were composed within or protruding from solid and transparent planes - reminiscent of objects contained within, or escaping from, museum display cases. This work expanded into organic surreal plant-based sculptures. 

 Rudd continued working on large rectangular paintings around 1985, often with relief elements, including incorporating figurative components. 

Ontogen flakes were assembled in small and large framed formats as well as in larger sculptural formats.  Pavillion (19'x19'x19') was exhibited in the International Sculpture Conference held in Washington D.C. in 1981.

The artist investigated methods of articulating the rough surfaces of his foam.  This led to his “Tile” series where the paint was sprayed from different directions; as the viewer’s eyes move, the subtle colored surfaces of the tiles change, orchestrated by the painting’s assembly of tile shapes.  The largest was 11.5 x 35 feet wide and was exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum in 1986.  

INTRODUCTION TO THE ROBOTIC “WALTER’S ONTOGEN”

The robotic “Walter’s Ontogen” by Eric Rudd (1999) might be seen as one of the few pioneering sculptures in the sphere of robotic and moving sculptures. 

(Menil Collection Founding Director) Walter Hopps, who was a close friend and supporter of Eric Rudd for many years, discusses Rudd's art and his Dark Ride Project (1995)