Anthony Ruacho’s Tuesday 1:37 received the William & Jeanne Batten Memorial Merit Award for Sculpture at the Midwest Museum of American Art’s (Elkhart) 45th Juried Regional.
“We had not seen anything like it,” Brian Byrn, Director of the Midwest Museum of American Art in Elkhart, said about Tuesday 1:37.
The mixed media sculpture by Marcellus’ own Tony Ruacho, co-founder of Patch & Remington, received the highest merit award at the Museum’s 45th Juried Regional which closed on December 22.
Ruacho’s diorama was awarded the William & Jeanne Batten Memorial Merit Award for Sculpture and was on display at the museum for two and a half months.
Since the competition’s inception in 1979, over $750 thousand dollars has been awarded to artists from northern Indiana and southwestern lower Michigan. The event showcases works in a variety of mediums.
In 2023, 217 artists entered 380 works. Out of that, 147 artists and 163 pieces were accepted for the competition.
There is much to see in Tuesday 1:37 thanks to Ruacho’s meticulous placement of people, props and the item Byrn liked best, a yellow plastic bag entangled in the branch of a tree. All items are to scale in the 2’ x 2’ sculpture from the junkyard dog, toolboxes and concrete blocks to the stogie smoking man in the green shirt, old tires, and the shoes on the body in the bed of the truck.
Therein lies the mystery of Tuesday 1:37.
Is what we think we’re seeing in the sculpture really what we’re seeing?
The what is a pair of red shoes attached to a pair of legs that disappear into what could be a body rolled up in what looks like parts of an old volleyball or tennis net in the bed of a rusty, dirty pickup. It’s nonchalantly placed behind one of two jumpsuit-clad men who appear to be taking a break with a mug of whatever goes with the half-eaten pizza on the tailgate. The big question is – is what we presume to be a body in the back of the truck headed to the rectangular hole that appears to be recently dug? Or maybe, it’s not really a body at all.
That’s the glory of art – telling a different story each time it’s experienced.
Congratulations, Tony! We look forward to the sequel or, perhaps, the prequel. . .
Other Juried award winners include David Allen, South Bend; Bill Kremer and Mike Slaski, Cassopolis; Dick Lehman and John Mishler, Goshen; and Tim Ackerman of Edwardsburg. For a complete list of winners, visit https://www.midwestmuseum.org/elkhart-juried-regional/
*****
Ruacho’s piece will be on exhibit this fall at Patch & Remington as part of the exhibition “But is it Art?” The exhibit will feature dollhouses, stained glass, and other unconventional mediums.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.