Harper’s is pleased to present Painting Fire, a solo exhibition of work by Athens, GA-based artist Art Rosenbaum. Co-organized by Tif Sigfrids and Ridley Howard, the exhibition consists of ten paintings made between 1982 and 2021 and eight recent oil pastel works on paper. In lieu of a formal reception, Painting Fire will open Friday, January 14, 12–8pm, at Harper’s Los Angeles.
At Harper's - Los Angeles
8115 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046
For over sixty years, Art Rosenbaum has been creating narrative paintings that spin idiosyncratic references into swirling American landscapes. Overarching visual energy gives way to interconnected mini-dramas that seemingly inform every pocket of space. Employing bold colors and vibrant underpainting, the frenetic interlocking brushwork maintains a taut balance between the graphic and the painterly in an expressive style that is twentieth-century American, yet echos charged works by the likes of Luca Signorelli, El Greco, and Max Beckmann.
Within the paintings, endlessly complex figures and forms lead the eye on meandering paths, offering a glimpse into the rich life Rosenbaum inhabits as an artist, art educator, and esteemed folklorist. What began with an interest in performing traditional folk songs evolved over time into a serious documentary endeavor, inspiring Rosenbaum to travel across the US recording musicians and releasing numerous albums through Smithsonian Folkways and the Dust to Digital record labels. A number of the subjects he recorded appear in paintings presented in this exhibition, including Abner Jay in Reenactment (1995), Howard Finster in Circles (1989), and gospel singer Naomi Bradford at the center of the diptych My Mind Will Never Be “Aisy” II (1986). The introduction into imaginative landscapes of these figures and others—such his former student and Athens darling Michael Stipe of R.E.M. in Circles (1989)—results in the sort of windy storytelling characteristic of Southern folklore.
Painting Fire (1993), for which the exhibition takes its name, was inspired by Rosenbaum’s presence in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. Rosenbaum inserts himself in a mirror, holding a video camera, while an aluminum rod enters the scene from outside the frame with a paintbrush taped to its end, loaded with cadmium orange paint. Themes of violence, interrupted love, and the artist as observer are essential to his work. Rosenbaum’s figures contain psychological tension, with elongated limbs, pronounced expressions, twisting torsos, and animated hands. Rigid soldiers in “A Man Has Been Here a Long Time, Dilmus Hall, Artist” (1986) are juxtaposed with the self-taught Athens native who made allegorical works out of concrete and wood. While at first his paintings seem engrossed in regional folklore, calling to mind the Social Realists and Regional painters of the Depression era, Rosenbaum’s works contain a myriad of perspectives and techniques that ultimately showcase a defiance of limitation and ceaseless outpouring of human curiosity.
Written by Tif Sigfrids and Ridley Howard
Art Rosenbaum (b. 1938, Ogdensburg, NY) is a painter, muralist, documentarian and performer of traditional American folk music. Since the 1960s, Rosenbaum has published numerous books about the American folk tradition and released 14 albums of documentary recordings. In 2008, he was awarded a Grammy for Best Historical Album for his collection Art of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music. Over the course of his career, Rosenbaum’s visual artwork was included in notable group exhibitions including Art in the South: Art Rosenbaum and Friends, Tif Sigfrids, Athens, GA (2018); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK (2004); 41st Biennial of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, and other venues (1989); New Orleans Triennial, New Orleans, LA (1983); and More Than Land or Sky: Art from Appalachia, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, and ten venues across the United States (1981). In 2006, a publication accompanied his first major retrospective, Weaving His Art on Golden Looms: Paintings and Drawings by Art Rosenbaum, 1956–2006, at the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens. Recently, his work has been the subject of solo and two-person presentations at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA (2021); Linda Matney Gallery, Williamsburg, VA (2021); Mason Fine Art, Atlanta, GA (2019); and Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA (2011). His work has been acquired by institutions including the Columbus Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.