Clare Rojas

This fall, The Rose will present a large-scale installation by California-based artist Clare Rojas called “Hope Springs Eternal.” The exhibition, her first solo show in New England, will be on display from Sept. 21, 2006 through April 1, 2007.

Rojas, a native of Columbus, Ohio, incorporates different media styles of painting, installations, film, printmaking, quilting, and music in a complementary fashion. The project is curated and organized by The Rose’s chief curator, Raphaela Platow.

Rojas’s work is influenced by American folk art, particularly by the history, material, and aesthetics of quilts. Her paintings usually include themes surrounding women and animals in stylized landscapes. Rojas is the fourth recipient of Brandeis’s Ruth-Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award. For her show, Rojas will work with students and other members of the Brandeis community.

Rojas has a personal style and iconography that provides many references to the folkloric traditions of quilting, fairy tales and European fables. The natural environment featured in her work such as trees, flowers, bodies of water and clouds are transformed into simple, pattern-like shapes.

Women of all ages and colors in simple patterned dresses are commonly found in Rojas’s work. The smiling, strong and confident women interact with other women, little girls, men, animals and nature. On the other hand, men with slumping soft bodies are often depicted naked in simple, flowing lines and in poses normally assumed by women in fashion magazines. These images reverse imposed sexual roles and the objectivation of female bodies in art and the media.

In addition to her visual artistry, Rojas performs under the name of “Peggy Honeywell” and has released five albums, four of which she also produced.

Pressetext

Clare E. Rojas
Hope Springs Eternal