Thriving in Place: Nicole Rubio - The Pink Men

46 x 36", Pastel on Paper

Artist Statement 

The Pink Men

For Thriving In Place

In Honor of Black Lives Matter

The Pink Men are from another dimension.   They are emerging from the membrane of the not yet manifest and watching us through a plane we usually can’t see them on.  On that plane, there is only compassion and gentleness toward other people.   What do they see as they look down now?  They see us being stupid.  They see blue men shooting black men.  They see a white man ambushing and killing a blue man.  They see black and white men breaking windows.  Setting fires to property that isn’t theirs

Right now in the real world there is police brutality to black people, protests, looting, and people dying of corona virus.  I’m drawing pink silk drapery.  Nero fiddling while Rome and Oakland burn.  But my response to raw violence is to throw back pink beauty.  

Artist Bio

Nicole Rubio was born in New York and graduated from the Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston.  After art school she migrated to California, where reality set in, and she supported herself for the next thirty years as a secretary.  She retired In 2010 and has spent the last ten years developing a body of large scale pastel drawings exploring beauty layered with seduction and social anxiety.  She has shown in juried national and local group shows, local solo shows, and has been interviewed for The 510 Podcast.