Emily Berger met the late painter and artist, Anne Russinof, twenty years ago at The Painting Center in New York. Russinof’s intelligence and presence were immediate. A friendship formed around their work—studio visits, openings, exhibitions, and eventually, showing together. Both were committed to abstract painting and supported each other’s practice. Berger curated this exhibition of Russinof’s elegant, rigorous paintings at Equity Gallery to bring them wider recognition. What Russinof left behind is a powerful body of work. “I believe she would be pleased with the exhibition, the beautiful catalog designed by Patricia Fabricant, and the thoughtful, poetic writing from Paul D’Agostino and friends,” Berger says.
Anne Russinof described her Cursive series as featuring forms that “came away from the edge of the canvas to float on their own.” How did this tension between weightlessness and grounding guide your selection of works, and what does it reveal about her evolution as an abstract painter?
I wanted to include a variety of Anne’s work from recent years. She was a prolific drawer and printmaker, but the emphasis here is on her paintings. She focused intently on one motif at a time, each representing a fully realized exploration of an idea. When it ran its course, a new one arose organically, and she moved on. Anne was quite clear about the centrality of gesture to her work. In her series Loose Grids, Baroque, and Soft Geometry, her gestures serve in various ways to both construct structures and be contained by them. Her sweeping brushstrokes bump the edge of the canvas and against one another, as circular forms, vaults, or bands of color – always color – and create a dynamic energy. In the Cursive series, her last, the gestures are “freed from the edge” and from each other, yet are still held in place – moving and still at once. Anne painted with her arm and full body moving in a kind of dance – giving her work her strength, her doubt, her anger, her love – all her humanness is there. We can only wonder where she would have taken her work next. She wasn’t finished, but what she has left us is a gift.
The exhibition includes an allied group show of small works contributed by Russinof’s extensive network of fellow practitioners. Who are these artists, and how did you approach selecting them and their works? What does this collective presence reveal about her influence and community?
Anne touched many artists deeply. A Concert of Voices represents a sampling, including close friends, loved ones, and creative collaborators. Anne was an avid gallery and museum goer and studio visitor, often taking photographs and publishing them on her blog, Gallery Travels. Her generosity, enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and erudition were all invaluable to the artists she visited. She had many friends and admirers, those she touched and those who touched her. I asked as many people as I could from her community to participate. Those who have had long and deep friendships with Anne, and those with whom she collaborated with at American Abstract Artists and Equity Gallery. As well as those whose work she appreciated, and those who appreciated hers. I know there are many more artists who could have contributed, but I hope everyone in this community feels like a part of this Concert of Voices when experiencing Anne’s work.
About the Artist: Anne Russinof (1956-2025) lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Chicago, she was a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received an MFA from Pratt Institute. Russinof was a resident at the Yaddo and Millay Art Colonies and a member of American Abstract Artists, included in many AAA exhibitions. Supporting herself as a designer for print and web, she also maintained a blog called Gallery Travels that featured mostly abstract painting shown in NYC. Russinof was featured in numerous exhibitions and has been collected widely. Her work is available online at IdeelArt, 1stdibs, Artsy, and VanDeb Editions.
About the Curator: Emily Berger lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Brown University, she received an MFA in painting from Columbia University, attended the Skowhegan School in Maine, and has been awarded several residency fellowships, including from Millay Arts. She is a recipient of the John Hultberg Memorial Prize in Painting from The National Academy Museum. Her work has been exhibited widely and reviewed in numerous publications such as The Hudson Review, Two Coats of Paint, Hyperallergic, and The Boston Globe. She is included in many private and public collections. Solo exhibitions have been presented at Starr Suites, TenBerke Architects, Walter Wickiser Gallery, Norte Maar, Scholes Street Studio, and The Painting Center, all in New York City. A two-person show, Passing Through, with Marcy Rosenblat at Frosch&Co, is upcoming. Berger is an active member of American Abstract Artists and has been included in many AAA exhibitions. @eberger90
About the Writer: Etty Yaniv is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, curator, and founder of Art Spiel. She works in installation, painting, and mixed media, and has shown her art in exhibitions across the United States and abroad. Since 2018, she has published interviews and reviews through Art Spiel, often focusing on underrecognized voices and smaller venues. @etty.yaniv