(New York, born 1945)

Untitled, 1980, layered acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30 in.; unframed

Provenance: Private Collection

Note:  "A few varied series of 'grey paintings' that hang in a row were done in the 1978-80 period, appearing to be collages but are only press type letters and then lots of acrylic systematically applied in layers creating shapes invoking fans, stencils, masks and puzzle pieces, depending on the series. Rifka calls those 'trying to animate moving geometric shapes with color of human emotion.' Shapes are rendered with a sense of humor at a time when 'art, and music, and night life encapsulated a changing of the guard from pure formalism'. In a video piece from that same era, the 1980 collaboration 'Slap Pals' was played on video screens in New York City clubs such as Danceteria and the Mudd Club and then featured in a show of visionary video work at The New Museum. Bruce Tovsky and Robert Raposo composed the music. Julius Koslowski and I threw down acetates onto a TV Screen, and shot animation in Super 8."

It makes sense that an artist who works in layers and movement, as well as time, would experiment in video. She provides images to animators. She animates them herself and works with musicians. In fact, Rifka is as good with moving images as she is with paint. In fact, the colored forms from the early plywood paintings turned into a video were projected on a giant screen at the opening, bringing the 70’s and her current work full together as the shapes and the viewer seemed to spin on multiple axes." 

Source: https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/new-work-at-yard-ny/3484

The lot is accompanied by the book Modernities, inscribed by the artist, a New Yorker magazine, and another book, Rosen, Randy, et al. Making Their Mark : Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-85. 1st ed, Abbeville Press, 1989.