Paul Rucker

As an interdisciplinary artist, I combine mediums. I find inventive ways to integrate live performance, sound, original compositions, and visual art. The music I create on cello involves extended technique, prepared cello and electronics. My compositional style ranges from improvised to strictly notated. My visual artwork incorporates infrared beams, lasers, touch pads, glass instruments, sound, video, photography, animation, and large-format printing.

Early on, I found myself mentally linking visual and audio when I learned to play double bass in elementary school. Each beautifully shaped note represented a pitch; every dash and dot directed articulation. The scores became maps that I not only enjoyed reading, but also found fascinating to look at even during a time when I had limited musical knowledge.  Today, I use musical notation to create graphic artistic representations of compositions.

All my work is inspired by that which moves me.  I’ve created art inspired by the sanitation workers in Memphis who went on strike because of discrimination and poor working conditions, by the horrific syphilis experiments of the Tuskegee Incident, by the exponential growth of the U.S. prison system, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s words in the Declaration of Sentiments that proclaimed, “All men and women are created equal,” and by the simple joy and sustenance found by a child catching raindrops.

I love making art, and feel honored to be doing something that has the potential to make an impact on the lives of others.

Many thanks,
Paul

Paul Rucker has received numerous grants for the creation of visual art and music from 4Culture, Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, South Carolina Arts Commission, Washington State Arts Commission, King County Site Specific, Photo Center NW, and Artist Trust. Rucker has created public artwork for the Museum of Flight in Seattle, 4Culture, and the City of Tacoma.

He has also been awarded residencies to Blue Mountain Center, Ucross Foundation, Art OMI, Banff Centre, Pilchuck Glass School, and the Rockefeller Foundation Study Center in Bellagio, Italy. As a musician and director Rucker plays in various situations from solo cellist to leading his LARGE ENSEMBLE of twenty-two musicians. Rucker was named Best Emerging Artist of 2004 from Earshot, 2005 Jazz Artist of the Year from the Seattle Music Awards, and Outside Jazz Ensemble of the Year in 2008. In 2007, he was invited by legendary filmmaker David Lynch to perform for the opening of Lynch’s film, Inland Empire.