12 Facts About Brian Rutenberg

Brian Rutenberg attended private school at Myrtle Beach's Coastal Academy from 1974 through 1983.

In 1983 Brian Rutenberg began his studies at the College of Charleston, where he met and studied under abstract painter William Melton Halsey.

Also during college, Brian Rutenberg took classes with British abstract painter Michael Tyzack, who became his faculty advisor and close friend.

Brian Rutenberg graduated with honors from College of Charleston in 1987 and moved to New York, where he entered the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

In 1992 Brian Rutenberg was awarded a year-long Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Grant.

In 1994, Brian Rutenberg started to take trips to Toronto and Ottawa, Canada to closely study Glenn Gould's life and career.

Brian Rutenberg traveled to Canada annually for this purpose until 2002.

In 1997 Brian Rutenberg received a Fulbright Fellowship which afforded him the opportunity to spend a year in Ireland.

Brian Rutenberg had his first solo exhibition with Forum Gallery in Los Angeles in 2000.

In 2018 Brian Rutenberg received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.

Brian Rutenberg has long placed primary importance on surface and material.

Brian Rutenberg is known for his liberal use of oil paint, sometimes up to three inches thick, and believes that a painting must address the physical presence of the viewer first.