Ruth Mikos is a contemporary painter who has lived and worked in Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and New Mexico. Her thought-provoking paintings pay homage to times gone by and the intangible nature of memory. Her distinctive personal style emits joy, nostalgia and longing for a simpler time.
An assortment of commonplace, often-discarded objects from the past are brought to life through striking compositions and contrasting, yet harmonizing color combinations.
The 9th of 10 children Ruth was immersed in a world of imagination at a young age. Her mother introduced her to enticing worlds of creativity: the joy of a good stories; sewing doll clothes; building dollhouse miniatures; music; travel; Broadway shows; quilting and antiquing, which her mother lovingly referred to as “junking”.
Her influences include: her mother; Theodor Geisel; Beverly Cleary; Joel-Peter Witkin; Cindy Sherman; Doug and Mike Starn; Christian Boltanski; and Rebecca Haines. She also had the good fortune to work with the original Blue Man Group in NYC in the early 90’s.
Ruth earned a Bachelor of Arts in Photography from the University of Northern Iowa. After college, she relocated to Brooklyn, NY where she earned a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute. She is also a recipient of the Emerging Artist Grant from Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council.