*Opening: Saturday, May 16th, 4-7PM* May 16th - July 25th, 2009
Main Gallery: CLARE E. ROJAS Believe Me
Project Space: Variations on a Theme
Benjamin Degen Melissa Gordon Jason Karolak Angel Otero Baker Overstreet Cordy Ryman
CLARE E. ROJAS
Kavi Gupta Gallery is pleased to present our second solo exhibition of new work by San Francisco based artist Clare Rojas.
Clare Rojas is well known for her intimate gouache paintings and expansive wall-based murals and installations that feel as if they have been plucked out of the pages of a fairy tale resonating as both familiar and fantastically imagined. Her distinctive intricately detailed painting style utilizing flat areas of color and her limited palette brings to mind both an expansive history of the craft movement as well as the art of printmaking. Rojas's imagery takes hints from folk art such as quilting or pottery and recurring symbols and patterns can be linked to Amish vernacular, Russian Matryoshka dolls, Native American textiles as well as contemporary American comic books.
Clare Rojas's latest exhibition at Kavi Gupta will feature a complete immersion into the artist's invented world. The gallery will be completely transformed into a "home" for her works as the walls are colorfully painted and decorative molding transforms the space into a living environment. Large framed wall paintings, sculptures and groupings of Rojas's signature paintings hang from wooden pegs articulating a complete constructed narrative. Animals, women and men interact within flattened floral landscapes. Women bleed their powers into the sky. Foliage, flowers and trees blend with abstract and often surreal pattern and space. The depictions themselves are allegorical; her portrayals of women are simultaneously serene, free, painful and powerful.
Clare Rojas (b. 1976) lives and works in San Francisco. Solo museum shows include Riverside Art Museum, CA ; The Rose Art Museum, Boston; Museo De Arte Comtemporaneo De Castilla y Leon; Museum Het Domein, Sittard; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita; Knoxville Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Rojas has also had solo exhibitions at Deitch Projects, NY; Modern Art, London; Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco and Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen.
Variations on a Theme
Benjamin Degen Melissa Gordon Jason Karolak Angel Otero Baker Overstreet Cordy Ryman
Kavi Gupta Gallery is pleased to present Variations on a Theme, a group exhibition of new paintings by Benjamin Degen, Melissa Gordon, Jason Karolak, Angel Otero, Baker Overstreet and Cordy Ryman.
The title Variations on a Theme is most well known as a musical composition Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn by Brahms and has been used by many musicians and composers as an activity for exploration. This exhibition presents a look at how variation progresses within the process of painting.
Benjamin Degen (b. 1976 lives and works in NY) solo exhibitions include a forthcoming show at Museum 52, London; Guild & Greyshkul, NY and Kantor/Feuer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Degen has also been included in the recent group exhibitions at White Columns, NY; dePury & Luxembourg, Z�rich; Mary Boone Gallery, NY; Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels; Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY; D'Amelio Terras, NY and Greater New York at PS1 MOMA.
Melissa Gordon (b. 1981 lives and works in Brussels) has an upcoming solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, NY as well as Ancient & Modern, London. Gordon has had solo exhibitions at Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam; Cosar HMT, D�sseldorf; and De Ateliers, Amsterdam. Group exhibitions include Prague Triennale 2008, Kunsthaus Essen, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem; Store Gallery, London; Timothy Taylor Gallery, London.
Jason Karolak (b. 1974 lives and works in Chicago) recently had a solo exhibition at Massimo Audiello, NY; and recent group exhibitions at Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago; Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago and the Beverly Arts Center.
Angel Otero (b. 1981 lives and works in Chicago) recently won the prestigious Leonore Annenberg Fellowship as a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Otero was included in New Wave, curated by Christian Viveros-Faune, Galeria Leyendecker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; University Museum, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; has had exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Workshop Gallery, Chicago and Union League Club of Chicago.
Baker Overstreet (b. 1981 lives and works in NY) solo exhibitions include Fredericks & Freiser, NY; Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN; Paolo & Curti, Milan. Selected group exhibitions include Saatchi Gallery, London; China Art Objects, LA; and Sister, LA.
Cordy Ryman (b. 1971 lives and works in NY) solo exhibitions include DCKT Contemporary, NY and Nicole Klagsbrun, NY. Group exhibitions include Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Koln; Esbjerg Museum of Modern Art, Esbjerg, Denmark; PS1 MOMA, NY, CANADA, New York, NY and Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL.
