Background
Rita Maria Walburga Grosse-Ruyken grew up in a hamlet in the Swabian-Danube region.
Rita Maria Walburga Grosse-Ruyken grew up in a hamlet in the Swabian-Danube region.
After Abitur, from 1970-1972, she studied Romance and English Language and Literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. From 1977-1978 she studied art history and archeology at the University of the Sorbonne in Paris.
The core of her light – sound – space – form installations comprise sculptures in motion made from pure gold and silver. She became internationally known through her exhibition Rays of Light. From an early age she became aware of natural phenomena and followed phonetic sound bridges.
From 1971-1977 she dedicated herself autodidactically to the study of the art of the goldsmith under the guidance of Professor Franz Rickert und Hermann Juenger at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
She was also influenced by Professor Guenther Fruhtrunk, a constructivist painter as well as by the religious philosopher Aloys Goergen, the president of the Academy. She concluded her studies with the state examination in art education and the academic diploma as an artist goldsmith.
From 1983 on she has worked freelance dedicating herself to researching the transparency, colour, light and movement of sculptures. Since 1993, in her continual exchange with astrophysicists, musicians, philosophers, writers, sound technicians and architects, she has been expanding her activities into the performance art and into exploring of Primary Sounds produced by integrated sculptures made from pure gold and pure silver which create motion in and by themselves.
Since 2008 she has been involved in the production of art films.
Samples of her work are included in the permanent collections of the International Design Museum, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich as well as the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. Solo exhibitions (selection)
1981: The Prelude to the Round Dance - the Body as Vessel, With a Crown. Light-Form-Installation.
Gallery Kröner, Castle Oberrimsingen
1985-2005: Installation SONNENDUNST - Zyklus I, Landakademie Rattenbach
2004: DURCHFLUTUNG/RAYS OF LIGHT, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York City & Goethe Institut, New York City
2009: Rays of Light – Rita Grosse-Ruyken, Museum für angewandte Kunst Frankfurt
2015: DURCHFLUTUNG AND THE White Stone, ArtCOP21 Agenda culturel Paris Climat 2015
Group exhibitions (selection)
1979: Goldschmiede dieser Zeit.
Körper – Schmuck – Zeichen – Raum, Kestnergesellschaft
1979: Körper – Zeichen, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München
1981: Körper, Schmuck, Zeichen, Raum. Goldschmiedearbeiten, Museum of Design, Zürich
1984: Kirche heute.
Architektur und Gerät. Süddeutscher Raum, Die Neue Sammlung, München
1993: Münchner Goldschmiede.
Schmuck und Gerät der Gegenwart, Münchner Stadtmuseum, München
2004: Welt in Tropfen, (Urania, Berlin)
2007: Gulf Art Fair, Dubai (Galerie Thomas, München)
2009: Herbert Hoffmann Award 1973-2008, München
2011: Ausstellung Pinakothek München"
2011: Modern Contemporary, Art Abu Dhabi"
2012: Im Zeichen der Ewigkeit.
Positionen zeitgenössischer Kunst, Neues Museum Kloster Schussenried
2012: Quinta Essentia, Deutscher Künstlerbund Berlin
2013: intimate, Frameless Gallery London
Sabine Runde (Hrsg): Transformationen – rays of light ( Mit Beiträgeneral ua von Hans Wichmann, Aloys Goergen, André Fischer, Friedrich Piel Texte in Deutsch und Englisch), Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt 2009.