EYE of GOD series
As an Artist, Ruef seeks to create Spiritual Abstracts that illuminate the transcendence of life, symbols & our eternal existence. It was during the season of solitude in 2020, that he began to explore some new images that changed his creative life forever.
On 3-17-20, he walked in the silence of the desolate Pittsburgh streets. He gazed upward & meditated on the dark night, the stars, outer space & an exploding nebula.
A moment of inspiration whispered around him. That brisk night led to his first painting of the “Eye of God”. The next morning, he casually sent that painted image as a text to several friends. The response was amazing. Someone loved it. Wow. Really? That led him to paint the “Eye of God 2”. Shortly after, he painted the “Eye of God 3” to complete the trinitarian series.
RUEF heART series
Ruef was also inspired during the season of silence and solitude to paint hearts in spiritually abstract ways. The ideas for this Ruef heART series goes back to when he visited the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit in The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in the Summer of 2005. He had been inspired by all of the Greek words for love too. They are Agape, Philia, Storge and Eros. He drew out some of the sketches for the heart series then but he did not start to paint them until the Spring of 2020. The swirling textures were inspired by Van Gogh. Ruef had visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City many many many years ago. It was the first time that he starred at a painting for over an hour. He gazed and stared and even looked within inches at The Starry Night painting. He marveled at the depth of paint and the vast and magnificent circles of his skies. He reveled in the colors and majesty of it all.
RUEFle heARTs
Agape heART
Philial heART
burning heART
2 heARTs become 1
BIO-Bob Ruefle
Artist, Filmmaker/videographer
Actor, Writer, Director & spiritual teacher.
bob RUEFle, a.k.a. RUEF, has been creating art ever since his Mother painted “Snoopy sleeping on his doghouse” on his and his brother’s bedroom wall when they were boys in the 70’s. His mom taught him how to draw and be creative. His G-Ma encouraged his drawing and painting by hanging his art, from the baseboards all the way up to the ceiling, all over her living room.
Ruef took art classes in Jr. and Sr. High School. He painted and sculpted. In college, at the University of Pittsburgh, he studied Creative Writing and Theater. That presented opportunities to paint sets, act, write, produce and direct plays and films. In the Summers, he worked for the Three Rivers Arts Festival and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Upon graduating, Ruef worked in TV Production for ESPN, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, Showtime for the Pgh. Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates. He worked in Film Production in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles for the productions of the X-Files, SMART PEOPLE, and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, to name just a few. He acted in numerous Professional Theater Productions, such as Measure for Measure, Romeo and Juliet as well as in commercials and independent films too. He has also acted, written, produced and directed some independent films like HORSES CRY TOO, which won the “Winnie Award” at the Equus Film and Arts Festival, and THE UNITY PROJECT, which is currently in post-production.
Over the last couple of decades, Ruef has continually sketched many drawings, studied and explored art in galleries all over the world. He has visited The Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Mattress Factory, and The Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh; The MET and the MOMA in N.Y.C;, the Chicago Art Museum, the Salvador Dali Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the L.A. Art Museum, the Frank Arnold gallery in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in Russia; the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, Ireland, and the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburg, Scotland. He had visions, sketches and ideas for paintings from years and years of studying all forms of art and paintings.
In 2016, Ruef started to paint various styles and forms of art inspired by his decades of studying art all over the world. He began to experiment with a vision of painting what he refers to as “spiritual abstracts”.
The first season of the pandemic in 2020 offered up the opportunity for Ruef to focus a tremendous amount of time, energy and joy in painting more art than he had ever created before. His first two paintings from this period, “The Agape heArt” and the “Eye of God” were received by excited art lovers. He became a working artist in regards to his art and paintings.
Over the last couple of years, he has been creating various paintings, styles, & mediums. He has also continued to enjoy creating new works of art. He has been encouraged to submit his art to be shown in galleries in Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other cities in the United States. 2022-2024 has been years full of new visions, refining, and preparations for new screenings of his art, films and creative projects. He has also been writing scripts, acting, filming and editing short films and videos.
Stay tuned for RUEF’s latest Art paintings, Merch drops, and video and film screenings!
Writing Projects
Over the last 3 decades, Ruef has written numerous songs, poetry, scripts, plays and screenplays.
HORSES CRY TOO
HORSES CRY TOO-has been a passion project of mine for the last 14 years. Who knew that one side would lead me down so many different creative paths? I didn’t that’s for sure. I had heard or read about people who work on projects or even developed movies over a ten year span and even a lifetime but I never imagined that I would work on one. HCT has inspired a slew of various creative projects from a full feature spec screenplay to film trailer and short film to even a RUEFle Art painting.
My love for horses goes all the way back to when my father rented a farm house with 23 acres of land, pastures, and a horses stable in Plum Borough, PA. I was about 7 years old or so. My Dad taught me how to ride horses. He even acquired a pony named Jelly for me and my brother to ride shotgun with him and his horse Peanut Butter.
We enjoyed sled riding down the pasture’s hillside. The horses would then pull up back up the hill to go down again and again. In the Summers, when we didn’t have to clean the stalls, we would ride the numerous trails, through the back woods and up and down the wandering hills and paths. We also trained and competed in the local 4H contests. We loved to race the barrels.
Unfortunately, our Dad lost the “horse farm” back to the owner who finally realized the true value of the property. One of the first inspired art projects from this era was my first sculpture of a horse head. Who knew that I would still be inspired to create other projects based on some of those equestrian experiences.
It was some time after Grad. School when those old memories began to become infused with new equestrian inspirations. A friend asked me to lead a Bible Study/teach spirituality at her newly rented horse farm. And simultaneously an actress told me the story of how she had suffered some serious losses and then she had to say good-bye to her childhood horse. She was so filled with grief. She cried as she stroked her horse’s mane and her horse cried too. (Later when we filmed this same type of scene the horse cried on cue too.) I thought that would be a good idea for a movie-Horses Cry Too.
Inspiration is an interesting companion. She speaks on the winds and whispers in our ears. What can we do but seek to bring to life her inspiration?
After I started writing down some ideas and scenes for HORSES CRY TOO, I was asked by my friend to learn how to learn to be a spiritual director with her on some Equine Assisted Therapy sessions. I partnered with her on many E.A.T. sessions with individuals; some struggling with depression, anxiety, acting out, Cancer, Aspergers, and Autism; kids at risk, marriage counseling, church and recovery groups, etc. All of those E.A.T. experiences further inspired the writing of HCT.
HORSES CRY TOO (Logline)-A broken-hearted champion struggles with cancer and depression seeks Equine Assisted Therapy, Healing with Horses. HCT was developed as a film trailer and short film/video to seek future funding for the full movie production.
RUEFle ART
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