On October 18, 2024 we opened Paul Ruschá LIFE MASK in our Winslow Studio Artists Gallery. The show explored the creative mind and life of artist Paul Ruschá. The idea to present a show based on Paul’s work came about in January 2024 during a lunch meeting with Allan Affeldt, Paul Ruschá, Special Projects Manager Dan Lutzick, artist John Suttman, artist Tina Mion, and AMM Creative Director Lori Bentley Law. We were all proud of how this show came together and pleased by the reaction from those who know Paul best.
Ed Ruscha, artist and brother
I think we’ve got the best example of Paul, really, in this exhibit out here, which I think rounds him out. Take all these things together in their little realms and you categorize them and all that, and it all comes back into making almost like a sketchbook of Paul Ruschá. And it works.
Read more about the making of the show, the reception, and the show opening, by clicking the button below.
Visitors to LIFE MASK
Over the last year, we welcomed a wide variety of guests to the Winslow Studio Artists Gallery at Affeldt Mion Museum, from Paul’s friends, to tour groups, to museum and gallery professionals, to his brother Ed, along with visitors newly introduced to Paul’s work.
Even those who know Paul well, made discoveries about him, thanks to this exhibit.
My takeaway from the Paul Ruschá “Life Mask” show is that we barely scratched the surface of his creative output. Paul has collected and supported various artists throughout his life, and at the same time he has learned from these artists, documented their practices, and created his own body of work which until this show was largely unknown. I believe there are rich veins of his photography that have yet to be explored, that he has the material to make many more assemblages, and that his ever growing collection of plastics and the photographs that document them will become a body of work in their own right.
Dan Lutzick, artist and friend
The Last Visitors
We kept the gallery open while we prepped for the deinstallation on Monday October 20, and had a steady flow of visitors. The couple pictured above were the last guests to see Paul Ruschá LIFE MASK in the Winslow Studio Artists gallery. They spent nearly forty-five minutes looking at every piece and reading every panel, before we pulled the ropes and officially closed the show.
Saying Goodbye
Taking down a show is always a little sad, but this one particularly so because all of us involved with Affeldt Mion Museum and the Winslow Studio Artists adore Paul. It is impossible to know Paul and not adore him. As part of the exhibit, we created a film about Paul because—as his long-time friend Rea Baldridge said—Paul is as much of the art as the art itself. We wanted guests to get to know his charming, naughty, funny, and unique personality.
When I started working on this exhibit with Paul and making the exhibit film, we had a surface level friendship, thanks to our social circle. Over the last concentrated two years with him–searching through his archives, traveling to Oklahoma City where he is from to interview friends, working on his catalog, planning the show–that connection has grown into one that is almost like family. Paul is one of my very favorite humans. I love his irreverent sense of humor. I love his work. I love sitting to dinner and having him write my name in calligraphy. Quite simply, I love this magical person called Paul.
Lori Bentley Law, Creative Director AMM
This exhibit gave people who have not met Paul a glimpse into the mind of a far from ordinary person. We loved watching guests grin as they walked through the exhibit, or sit and watch the film, or study his Self Portrait on Target mixed media assemblage, or take home a deck of his Solitaire for Addicts playing cards as a souvenir because they wanted to carry with them a piece of Paul. As artist (and longtime friend) Tina Mion so perfectly said:
I am very sad to see the show come down as I enjoyed it and sharing the amazing Paul with a whole new audience.
Tina Mion
A Note From Paul Ruschá
I’m still surprised that my Life Mask show had been up for a whole year when it felt like it had just gotten started. I never expected for it to reach completion, at least on my part, because the bulk of the work was done by Dan Lutzick and Lori Bentley Law, and without them it would have never gone up in the first place. It was initially suggested by my friends, Allan Affeldt and his artist-wife, Tina Mion who own La Posada Hotel and the attached museum that bears their names. When they, Lori and Dan had proposed to show my work, my art, and my collections, I shook my head and thought they must be hallucinating, but okay, if that’s what they wanted to produce, then go ahead and put up the show!
I was equally surprised that Lori had just the right amount of push, and her urging would stimulate my helping her to document the show and produce the outcome I could barely believe was possible for becoming a full-on exhibition. She put together the visual intrigue in the printed catalog of the show and directed the video of my old friends (and my brother and sister) who told their bits about me, their friend and little brother, and it was oddly interesting… even to myself!
The bulk of beefcake bravado had come from Dan who was not afraid of assembling the Life Mask show, and it was wonderful to have been honored with the whole year-long event. Now it’s Dan’s turn in having a whole year to display his remarkable art, and I’m more excited about his opening than I was about my own! Again, I must thank the whole gang who helped initiate the start of my show: Allan and Tina; Dan, and his wife Ann-Mary; Lori and Brian Law who were golden in their on-going encouragement. Laura Hipke was also helpful with the ephemera: she printed the T-shirts, ordered my decks of cards, etc. made the whole event even more celebratory than I ever expected. Therefore, again, I thank them all!
~ Paul Ruschá
Deinstalling the Show
Now, it is time to reset the Winslow Studio Artists Gallery where Paul’s show has been for the last year, and begin installing our next show: LUTZICK SNOWDRIFT ARRAYS. First, we need to clear out the gallery and prep the walls for paint. Many thanks to Jason, Kalup, Jeremy, and Jason J for working so efficiently to deinstall Paul’s show. By day’s end, the WSA gallery was empty.
Recreating the Exhibit
This is not the end of the LIFE MASK exhibit though. We plan to rebuild the show inside Paul’s home and studio across from La Posada Hotel, El Gran Garage (a Winslow Studio Artist space). While El Gran is not open to the public, we will occasionally schedule tours so more can bear witness to the brilliance of Paul.
The LIFE MASK show will find a permanent home at Paul’s El Gran Garage, and it will become the inspiration for more work as Paul reflects on this exhibit. In many ways, Paul’s life and his El Gran studio space are themselves an art installation that will continue to evolve as Paul adds to his ever-increasing collection of stuff, and will continue to inspire the folks that have a chance to view it on one of his tours.
Dan Lutzick
Thank you to all who visited!
If you made it to Paul’s show, thank you for visiting and for sharing your enthusiasm for Paul’s work. If you were unable to see the show, take a look at the film, and buy one of his catalogs where Paul writes about each element of the show (in typical entertaining Paul fashion). They are available via our online store. We also have his playing cards, and a few copies of his first book, Full Moon.
The Final Quote
When I (Lori) sent Paul this post to review, his final words (in reference to the photo of him standing next to his Martyr for Love Image at the beginning of this post) were this:
That photo makes my navel seem further out than my pecker.
And that… is Paul in a nutshell.
