3D Abstraction, a large red abstract acrylic painting by Ritu Raj (acrylic on canvas, 5 × 6 ft)

Something happened when you saw this. What was it?

Ephemeral Atmosphere · 2021

3D Abstraction

5 × 6 ft · Acrylic on canvas · 2021

Available · in the studio, Phoenix

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Depth that earns its dimensionality — a surface that pushes back against the wall it hangs on.

3D Abstraction (2021) is part of my Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection, a series that explores perception, movement, and dimensionality through layered surface and spatial disruption. Created in mixed media on a 72 x 60 inch canvas, this piece plays with the illusion of depth — inviting the eye to step into the painting and wander through texture, tone, and form.

Built through a series of sculptural gestures, 3D Abstraction resists flatness. Instead, the canvas feels inhabited. Carved lines, raised paint, and layered mediums create shadows and recesses that shift depending on light and angle. This work lives in that ambiguous space between painting and object — a plane animated by presence and perception.

In spirit, it resonates with the works of Julie Mehretu, particularly her ability to build architectural spaces through mark, density, and motion. Like Mehretu, I’m interested in how abstraction can evoke place — not as geography, but as experience.

Here, the viewer becomes a participant. The eye moves, the body responds. The work asks to be read not just visually, but spatially — as a terrain of thought and sensation. The textures hold memories of movement. Each mark is a residue of action, a fleeting atmosphere made tactile.

3D Abstraction is an invitation to explore what lies beneath and beyond the surface — a meditation on depth, shadow, and the possibility of presence in dimensional abstraction.

Where to see it. In person at RituStudio, Phoenix, by appointment. Represented by Jarrow & Goodman, Los Angeles.

The space it needs

Wall
At least 8 ft wide
Ceiling
9 ft or more
Light
Natural light transforms this work — morning and evening light read differently
Daylight
Side light from a window rakes the tactile white relief and throws real shadow; flat noon glare erases it. The cool ground and its accent of cadmium red hold steady either way.

Lives best in

Living room 5/5

3D Abstraction earns its five here because a living room can absorb a six-foot canvas of charcoal gray and cadmium red ridges that shift from flat image to physical terrain as you move through the space across a day.

Bedroom 4/5

The acrylic ridges and cadmium red hold enough heat to anchor a large bedroom wall, though the mood score of two means a sleeper sensitive to visual weight should consider whether this much demanding texture belongs in the last thing they see at night.

Details

Size
5 × 6 ft (W × H)
Medium
Acrylic on canvas
Year
2021
Collection
Ephemeral Atmosphere
Palette
Dark Gloss · Charcoal Gray · Cadmium Red
Weight
About 45 lb
Ready
In the studio; delivery 6–10 weeks

Its ArtGram

ArtGram.Sprig

  • Texture4
  • Form4
  • Colour range3
  • Palette4.9
  • Contrast1.5
  • Abstraction Quotient1
Read the full reading on ArtGraph →

Keywords

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