I know you had it hard
I know you had it hard
I know you had it hard and you wanted to tell me
Oh I don't want to hear it " (Electrelane)
"Brion Rosch’s creative process, which involves searching for, manipulating and layering found materials, is evocative of the archaeological process of digging for evidence of a lost culture. The people of the Nazca culture, who flourished from 100 BC to 600 AD on the southern coast of Peru, didn’t leave a historical record in the form of a written language."
Brion Rosch has become not only a friend (although we've never met...), but an artist I've come to deeply admire. I've watched Brion's work over the past 5 years take many turns, but each is an attempt to express the inexpressible, to make connections to something this is not present, or a thought that has yet to form. His gestures and language often border on the intentionally ridiculous, but always are bold and assured, and upon first glance, perhaps that is their sword. Over time, his work has revealed a quiet confidence, and a willingness for flirty comparison with other modernist artists grappling with form, color, gesture, connection, and the void. - David John
BRION NUDA ROSCH: FORMS & OBJECTS JULY 18—AUGUST 30, 2014
Adams and Ollman is pleased to present Forms & Objects, an exhibition of new work by Brion Nuda Rosch on view with a selection of Pre-Columbian Peruvian ceramics. Rosch’s assemblages—made with materials that are humble in origin and slightly altered or transformed—are presented on pedestals where they defy easy categorization as paintings or sculptures, insignificant or monumental. These poetic, slight works works, united by a single color—a deep, earthy red-brown— and dominated by a simple shape—a rectangle, irregular and often missing a corner, are ambiguous in form and meaning, yet call to mind signposts that mark and highlight the ancient objects in the room.
United by several themes, across time, place and intention, Rosch's contemporary works and the Pre-Columbian Peruvian pottery are found, fragmented, abstract, and guided by rule and ritual. Rosch’s creative process, which involves searching for, manipulating and layering found materials, is evocative of the archaeological process of digging for evidence of a lost culture. The people of the Nazca culture, who flourished from 100 BC to 600 AD on the southern coast of Peru, didn’t leave a historical record in the form of a written language. Their cups, vases, and effigy forms, while highly abstract, contain illustrations of anthropomorphic creatures and ritualistic trophy heads that provide us with insight into these ancient peoples. Similarly, a central shape—a paired down head or bust—pushes Rosch's works into the realm of figuration.
Brion Nuda Rosch Blank Form, 2014 acrylic, paper on found book page 11 x 9 inches
"Working within the context of Pre-Columbian Peruvian pottery, Rosch further expands his practice of constructing or reconstructing narrative and identity through objects. Together, they gesture towards a reconsideration of the historical material and our relationship to the object and its history.
How much can we know from what little we are given?
What have we unearthed and how can we piece it together?
What do we value and what do we hold sacred?"
Brion Nuda Rosch This Form is Intentionally a Form to Potentially Represent a Portrait, 2014 acrylic, paper, artist frame, wood 19 x 15 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches
Adams and Ollman
811 East Burnside #213
Portland, Oregon 503.724.0684
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