Bajo El Sol Gallery will have an opening reception from 4-7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 17. This multi-media exhibition explores the poetic convergence of light and darkness through the distinctive lenses of artists Janet Cook-Rutnik and Sigi Torinus. Drawing inspiration from the elusive moments when the day transitions into night, their works invite the viewer to contemplate the serene beauty that emerges during this magical threshold.
Janet Cook-Rutnik’s art unfolds like a lyrical ode to the ephemeral hues of twilight. Her use of color and form captures the subtle gradations between day and night, invoking a sense of tranquility and introspection.
Sigi Torinus’ works invite the audience to embark on a sensory journey where twilight becomes a metaphor for the interconnectedness of dualities. Taking flight and landing, her work evokes the lyrical tension between soaring and stillness in a layered meditation on the nuanced dance between darkness and illumination.
Sigi Torinus was born and grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She received her MFA from the Braunschweig Art Institute in Germany and San Francisco State University in California.
Janet Cook-Rutnik is an internationally exhibited artist living and working in the Virgin Islands since 1969. Her work is in museums and collections worldwide.
Priscilla Hintz Rivera Knight and David Knight Jr., Bajo El Sol Gallery & Art Bar owners since 2016, are proud of the gallery’s 30-year legacy of support and engagement with the arts community of St. John and the greater Virgin Islands.
The gallery is home to thought-provoking monthly exhibitions, readings by award-winning V.I. writers and poets, documentary screenings on some of the Caribbean’s most respected thinkers, as well as talks by local academics and visiting curators. The gallery is in Mongoose Junction, St. John.
