Captured Energy in Movement, a large red abstract acrylic painting by Ritu Raj (acrylic on canvas, 6 × 4 ft)

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Ephemeral Atmosphere · 2023

Captured Energy in Movement

6 × 4 ft · Acrylic on canvas · 2023

In a private collection

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Energy held long enough to be painted — red atmospheric force at the precise moment of capture.

Movement (2023) is not a depiction — it’s a performance. This 48 x 48 inch mixed media piece from the Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection captures motion not as subject, but as method. It’s a painting that breathes, pulses, and sways across its own surface.

The composition unfolds in sweeping gestures — arcs of charcoal, slashes of deep ultramarine, and trails of golden ochre dancing across a muted base. There are no fixed forms. Every element is in flux, like choreography frozen mid-rhythm. The marks aren’t placed; they arrive.

I created Movement in a moment of physical restlessness, when my thoughts couldn’t sit still and my body needed to lead. I didn’t begin with an idea. I began by moving — letting twine, brush, and pigment follow instinct. The painting is the record of that rhythm.

This work resonates with the expressive dynamism of Joan Jonas, whose performance-based practice transforms gesture into narrative. Like Jonas, I see movement as meaning — a way of thinking through motion rather than words.

Movement does not resolve. It resists stasis. It reminds us that the world doesn’t sit still, and neither do we. Even in quiet, there is trembling.

As part of the Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection, this piece captures motion as emotion — not directional, but energetic. It holds the feeling of being swept, carried, stirred.

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
Deep madder and cadmium red run hotter under west light, and with so little contrast, strong sun can melt the field into one red. A north or east wall keeps the atmosphere layered.

Lives best in

Living room 5/5

Captured Energy in Movement earns a 5 here because its six-by-four-foot field of deep madder and oil-slick blue charges a living room wall with the same restless aliveness that a gathering of people brings to the space.

Bedroom 4/5

At six by four feet this is a large presence for sleep, but the deep ink grounds the madder's trembling energy enough that morning light can wake the room gently and evening light can pull the work toward something almost still.

Details

Size
6 × 4 ft (W × H)
Medium
Acrylic on canvas
Finish
Epoxy over acrylic. The resin lifts the color off the canvas and holds it forward, so the surface deepens as the light moves across the room.
Year
2023
Collection
Ephemeral Atmosphere
Palette
Deep Madder · Oil-Slick Blue · Deep Ink · Cadmium Red
Weight
About 45 lb

Its ArtGram

ArtGram.Fork

  • Texture3
  • Form2
  • Colour range3
  • Palette4
  • Contrast1.6
  • Abstraction Quotient4
Read the full reading on ArtGraph →

Keywords

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