Aïda Ruilova’s single-channel videos are built upon a stream of images that provide links to oblique relationships. Employing the cinematic device of montage, her work explores the gap between an individual’s psychological state and a neurosis shared by all who live in the increasingly nebulous world of the ‘global village.’ The rapid jump-cuts in her short videos either combine music or allude to musical sounds, creating narratives that are strangely familiar yet steeped in obscure symbolism. For Ruilova, a New York-based artist, her interest in music lies in the gap between the audio and the visual, at times forcing the viewer to ‘visualize’ sound.
Peeling back the layers of Ruilova’s work one can find a mixture of gothic and B-movie horror with traces of a bittersweet coating. Her visual style is clearly influenced by Eisenstein’s filmic techniques in the fracturing of time, empowering viewers with the tools to come up with their own conclusions. In balancing her work, Ruilova skillfully manages to merge the opposing strategies of another filmmaker, Tarkovsky, who concentrated on “filming a psychology of mind-states, remembrances, ambiences, and other-worldliness.” Prevalent in her work is a critique of the psychosis that includes a sense of isolation, self-destruction, and absurdity. Roger Corman, the king of B-movies, best summed up this feeling when he said, “I eventually worked out a theory… that horror, sex, and laughter are all connected in strange ways.”
— Sylvia Chivaratanond

Selected solo exhibitions: 2002: Artemis Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York; 2000: White Room, New York.
Selected group exhibitions: 2002: Videodrome II, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Monitor II, Gagosian Gallery, New York; Altered States, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York; 2001: Downtown Arts Festival, New York; Special Projects, P.S.1, New York; Casino 2001, Stedelijk Museum Kunst, Gent; 2000: Collectors Choice, Exit Art, New York, New York; 1999: Lifer, Cardozo School of Law, Rove, New York; Hi-8, Museu Nacional de Historia Natural, Lisbon.