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Nature Resassembled: An Exhibition by Phyllis Rosser at Ceres Gallery, New York, NY - April 22 - May 17, 2008
In her solo exhibition at Ceres Gallery, opening April 22nd, Phyllis Rosser continues her investigation into the visual play of natural forms and images with an installation of branches, tree limbs and grasses. This complements her powerful wall-mounted constructions of found wood that twist and knot along with her more openly women pieces in natural wood stripped of its bark which she finds on the banks of the Connecticut River in Vermont. Nature Reassembled will include 6 large walls sculptures and 20 smaller pieces as well as 9 paintings of large flowers which further reveal her fascination with the colors, textures and the sensuality of nature.
New York, NY April 18, 2008 -- In her solo exhibition at Ceres Gallery, opening April 22nd, Phyllis Rosser continues her investigation into the visual play of natural forms and images with an installation of branches, tree limbs and grasses. This complements her powerful wall-mounted constructions of found wood that twist and knot along with her more openly woven pieces in natural wood stripped of its bark which she finds on the banks of the Connecticut River in Vermont.
In the decaying branches thrown on the shore, especially as they turn silvery gray, she sees the weathered barn doors of her childhood. The energy of the wood -- it's subtle grays, beiges
and charcoals and infinite patterns of grains as well as it's broken forms have a power for her, suggesting something that endures even as a tree breaks apart. She revalues a material
often considered refuse. In recent years, the sculptural patterns of natural landscapes have drawn her interest as she tries to capture their volumes, contours and colors in her
installations. The random masses of plants and the wind blowing through fields of grassses create a powerful energy and geometry that excite as well as soothe.
Art Historian/Critic Anne Swartz says Rosser's work is an "ongoing search for the stunning in natural-occuring forms They become talismans of nature's force, power and beauty." She notes
their calligraphic quality: "The line of the forms seem to follow throughout the composition, breaking and undulating, recalling their surging through water," connecting her to 20th
Century painters who freed line from description like Jackson Pollack and Cy Twombley.
Nature Reassembeld will include 6 large wall sculptures and 20 smaller pieces as well as 9 paintings of large flowers which further reveal her fascination with the colors, textures and
sensuality of nature. Swartz has said "the intertwining or overlaid elements (of the paintings) recall the sculptural compositions" of her wall pieces. The flowers are "both beautiful
(lovely palette, pleasing shapes and vital forms) and sublime (prompting a sense of awe at the spectacle of nature, diminishing human presence in the process)."
This is Phyllis Rosser's 11th solo show. She is represented in numberous private and public collections including the Microsoft Art Collection, the Smith College Museum of Art and Johnson
& Johnson and has appeared in many group shows in New York, New Jersey and Vermont.
Rosser's work will be at Ceres Gallery from April 22 through May 17. 2008. The gallery is located at 547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays
from noon to 6 p.m., Thursday nights until 8 p.m. Contact Ceres at: 212.947.6100 for gallery information.