While his work is not terribly concerned with the iconic images of the Capital Region – the monuments and government buildings that live on page one of an Albany or Troy Google – Ken Rutsky’s paintings are love letters to the area he has called home for most of his life. His work depicts the people and places of every day in ways that reveal their unique beauty, resilience, and dignity. Rutsky believes that, as a fount of talent, innovation, and culture, New York’s Capital Region should be celebrated in its myriad tapestry of life, the alleyways, and rural lanes no less than the manicured boulevards and sculpted parks, and that every resident should feel pride in their contribution to the richness of life in this place they call home.

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​Born in Florida in 1976, Ken Rutsky moved with his family to Saratoga Springs, NY less than a year later. He has always considered the area to be his home. While an avid art student who discovered he loved painting in high school, Rutsky did not pursue the subject after graduating, concentrating instead on music and writing. It wasn’t until many bands, unfinished novels, jobs and one divorce later that he came back to visual arts, at first relearning the fundamentals of drawing to relieve stress and then moving on to paint. Rutsky, feeling he had learned all he could on his own and with the support and encouragement of his partner, left a stable career in insurance in 2019 to return to school for art. From there he intends to see where the journey takes him.