Maya Frodeman Gallery is pleased to present Posted / Turning, a solo exhibition of work by artist Jane Rosen, on view August 2nd through September 15th, 2024. This exhibition is accompanied by a 140-page printed catalog, with an interview by Richard Whittaker. An opening reception will be held on Friday, August 2nd, from 5 to 8pm. All are welcome.
The hawks perch in a tall tree. A tree that grows and changes each time they land in it, build a nest in it, perch on it balancing in the wind. In the late afternoon, they are illuminated in such a way that they both blend into this tree and appear translucent simultaneously, much like the branches of the tree that are illuminated in this late afternoon light. How extraordinary that I was given the opportunity to learn about glass, that the sandblasted pigmented glass birds are illuminated in the same way that the birds I cohabit with appear to be. That the recycled Provençal stone seems like an eternal beam of light, much like the streams of light that filter through the clerestories in the studio. The light passing through the studio taught me to adapt to a new way of working. I learned to work with the light as teacher, rather than trying to control the lighting conditions. Wouldn’t it be grand if we were that responsive to the changes that one’s life brings our way. What aging can say about youth, what light can say about darkness, what animals can guide us towards if we listen. What if this knowledge were in fact second nature to us. We are, in fact, composed of two natures, which seems to me so much like the passage in the Upanishads.
- Jane Rosen
Posted / Turning presents the artist as she is meant to be, a true maestra at the height of her prowess. The exhibition presents new work from Jane Rosen, a celebrated sculptor and draughtswoman, bringing together colossal feats of stone carving with innovative handblown glasswork and her signature layered sumi-e ink drawings. Some of the work, such as Sahara Falcon and Red-Shouldered Hawk, sit on magnificent pedestals hewn from incredibly rare Beaumanière stone salvaged from a now-closed French quarry, while other works incorporate collected stones she has been bringing to life over the course of thirty years. Rita (for Hayworth) and Sophia (for Loren), Jane’s “glamour girls” and birds she’s called “the pieces of a lifetime,” are hand-blown glass birds that were rolled in marble and carved hot at 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. Each is perched on stone akin to the “eternal beam of light” Rosen refers to in her artist statement above.
