The Phillips Collection

Pazo Fine Art is pleased to congratulate Ruth Pastine on the acquisition of Fetish, Primary Red Series, 2011 by The Phillips Collection. This is the first painting by the artist to be acquired by the renowned Washington D.C. institution, America’s first museum of modern art. Fetish, Primary Red Series was first shown in Pastine’s solo exhibition, Immaterial Matters at Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA. Most recently it was on view at Pazo Fine Art in the exhibition, The Technological Sublime and will join the strong holdings of minimalist color-focused paintings in The Phillips Collection including their intimate Rothko Room.

Ruth Pastine has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad and is the recipient of many awards and grants. Works by the artist can be found in numerous private and public collections including the de Young Museum & Legion of Honor, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), CA; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), TX; Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Lancaster, CA among others.

Born and raised in New York City, Ruth Pastine is best known for her luminous color-focused paintings and multi-panel installations advancing the seminal Light & Space movement emerging from Southern California in the 1960’s. Pastine continues to evolve pure abstraction and follows the concepts of minimalist theory, furthering the phenomenological experience of light and space in her work producing an image that is both objective and dematerialized. For Pastine, “Color itself, in its infinite beauty, holds the immeasurable field of light and space that it defines.”

The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20009

Acquired into The Phillips Collection January 2023

Fetish, Primary Red Series
2011
Oil on canvas on beveled stretcher