Oct 1, 2025 — Continuing
Brian Rutenberg (born 1965) stands among the most accomplished abstract painters to emerge from the South in the last half-century. Born in Myrtle Beach, he absorbed the tidal rhythms, marshes, and luminous skies of the Lowcountry. For more than forty years, Rutenberg has translated the sensory fullness of that world into lush, complex abstractions that are at once evocations of place and meditations on perceptions itself.
This exhibition celebrates Rutenberg’s achievements as a painter, as well as the lineage of mentorship that made them possible. By situating his works alongside two of his professors at the College of Charleston, William Halsey and Michael Tyzack, we acknowledge a continuum of artistic inquiry– one that passes from teacher to student, generation to generation, transforming local experience into universal form.
William Halsey (1915–1999) was a Charleston-born painter celebrated for his vibrant abstract works, which blended local traditions with modern artistic ideas. A central figure in South Carolina’s modern art movement, he inspired and mentored generations of artists through both his practice and teaching.
Michael Tyzack (1933–2007) was a British-born painter and longtime Charleston professor whose bold geometric abstractions brought international modernist ideas to the Lowcountry. A dedicated teacher as well as an artist, he influenced generations of students with his vibrant use of color and innovative approach to abstraction.
Rutenberg has not forgotten Tyzack’s maxim: to be an artist is to stand “ten feet tall and bulletproof.”