Ruth Mordecai

Born 1938 in Boston MA.
Resides in Gloucester MA.

In Ruth Mordecai’s works on paper, most often black and white paint or collage defines sculptural forms, and added lines expand the work into pictorial space, exploring memory and spiritual resonance through cultural symbols such as apples, baskets, and ladders. Color is spare but prominent.

Mordecai takes up philosophical and religious questions through a visual exploration of shared symbols. Her works on paper embody exquisite sculptural tensions of gravity and balance, or else are sculptural forms imbued with the movement of painterly gesture. Her love for the human form and for our spiritual relationships to shared symbols endow her work with depth and warmth.

Mordecai describes her process as “the stacking of various images that over the years have become the iconography of the work: Jacob’s Ladder, the moon, apples, an ancient sun, a horizon line, a basket or wagon or figures in dance.”

Videos
A Conversation with Ruth Mordecai
August 21, 2016 · 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
A conversation with Ruth Mordecai about her artistic process and recent work on the occasion of her exhibition Works on Paper.
Past Solo Exhibitions with Matthew Swift Gallery
Ruth Mordecai: New Work 2023
October 28, 2023 – December 10, 2023
A solo exhibition of new paintings by Ruth Mordecai.
Ruth Mordecai: New Work / 2020
October 10, 2020 – November 8, 2020
Twenty-one new paintings by Ruth Mordecai.
Ruth Mordecai: New Works on Paper
July 14, 2018 – August 12, 2018
New works on paper by artist Ruth Mordecai responding to a myth of a letter missing from the Hebrew alphabet, which when revealed in the future “will create undreamed of words and worlds.”
Ruth Mordecai: Works on Paper
August 6, 2016 – September 5, 2016
An exhibition of recent paintings on paper by Ruth Mordecai.
Ruth Mordecai: New Works on Paper
August 1, 2014 – September 1, 2014
An exhibition of new paintings, collages, and monotypes on paper by Ruth Mordecai.
Past Group Exhibitions with Matthew Swift Gallery
Explicit Color
July 1, 2022 – August 1, 2022
An exhibition of paintings and sculpture with explicit color: most titles name a color.
Art Miami 2021
November 30, 2021 – December 5, 2021
Matthew Swift Gallery will show work by Peter Lyons, Susan Erony, Erika Marquardt, Timothy Harney, Gabrielle Barzaghi, Aron Leaman, Diane Ayott, Ruth Mordecai, and Kim Radochia.
DIRVEN 2 ABSTRAXION
November 13, 2021 – January 31, 2022
A group exhibition of abstract art.
Threshold
September 5, 2020 – October 4, 2020
An exhibition for a time of danger and transitions.
Art Palm Beach 2020
January 30, 2020 – February 3, 2020
Matthew Swift Gallery will show work by gallery artists and a special exhibition of work by Erma Wheeler at Art Palm Beach.
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2020
January 9, 2020 – January 12, 2020
Matthew Swift Gallery will show work by gallery artists at Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary.
20/20
November 23, 2019 – February 29, 2020
An exhibition which invites you to take a closer look while approaching and beginning the year 2020.
New Series One
August 10, 2019 – October 7, 2019
The gallery introduces a new name, Matthew Swift Gallery, and a new exhibition format: a group exhibition of individual treasures.
Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019
April 4, 2019 – April 7, 2019
Trident Gallery will show work by Peter Lyons, Zygmund Jankowski, and Ruth Mordecai in Booth 134 at the 2019 Philadelphia Fine Art Fair.
Facing Five Years
January 17, 2019 – March 31, 2019
A program of exhibitions and events revisiting Trident Gallery’s first half-decade years and assaying the next.
In With The New
January 26, 2018 – March 25, 2018
An exhibition of new, unseen, and selected works of art by represented artists.
AD20/21 2017
April 6, 2017 – April 9, 2017
Trident Gallery showed works on paper by Pamela Ellis Hawkes, Zygmund Jankowski, Ruth Mordecai, Diane Ayott, and Susan Erony at the 2016 AD20/21 art fair.
In the Time We Have
March 12, 2016 – April 24, 2016
An exhibition of new and selected works of art reflecting themes of time, ephemerality, and maturity.
Beyond Real: Contemporary Landscapes
August 15, 2015 – September 13, 2015
A group exhibition offering more than fifty paintings, drawings, photographs, and mixed media works in the genre of landscape, chosen to represent a diversity of artistic approaches.
AD20/21 2015
March 26, 2015 – March 29, 2015
Trident Gallery showed works on paper by eight represented artists at the 2015 AD20/21 art fair.
Spring Improvisations
March 20, 2015 – May 31, 2015
During Spring Improvisations, special offerings and recent work by gallery artists will be on display and may change frequently and improvisationally. Stop into the gallery regularly to see new work and tell the Director what you’d like to see next.
Boston International Fine Art Show, 2014
November 13, 2014 – November 16, 2014
Trident Gallery showed works by gallery artists at the Boston International Fine Art Show in 2014.
Harbortown 2014
July 3, 2014 – July 27, 2014
An exhibition celebrating Gloucester Harbor and the area’s legacy of more than 150 years of excellence in the visual arts, displaying works of art by eighteen Cape Ann artists, including four guest artists, and introducing Gloucester artist Ed Touchette, now represented by Trident Gallery.
Walls of Plenty
November 29, 2013 – January 5, 2014
A cornucopia of art to feed the soul.
Home: The Inaugural Exhibition
August 30, 2013 – October 14, 2013
Trident Gallery's inaugural exhibition shows the work of twelve artists representing the excellence and variety of contemporary fine art on Cape Ann. Gallery Director Dr. Matthew Swift has assembled 39 works of art that explore ideas of “home.”