RACHEL ROTENBERG: SANITY
THE SILBER ART GALLERY Sanford J. Ungar Athenaeum | Goucher College
Rachel Rotenberg’s wood sculptures transform gallery spaces into amorphous worlds that are populated by sensually curving surfaces, intriguingly formed negative spaces, and forceful volumes. Implying movement, these suggestive forms make visible the symbiotic relationship between the intellect and the physical—each one echoing the other. Rotenberg says, “I begin my creative process with pencil drawings. They help narrate my internal dialogue and enable me to work through my ideas until a leading image emerges. Once I commit to a form I begin to cut, glue, and join wood beams to one another, often returning to my sketch book to solve issues that arise. In this way I navigate through each piece; I build, grind, and sand to further articulate form, texture, and detail.” Though wholly abstract, these works remain visual metaphors of conscious and subconscious thought. The artist’s mind flows and the internal logic of the work is made visible to the viewer; their mystery beckoning the audience to come closer, to linger. Often, stains and colors are applied to the finished pieces. Like faint memories, subtle, yet present, the pigments do not overpower the forms but rather heighten or draw attention to each of the fragmented parts. Each individual work represents an amalgam of these multifaceted symbiotic relationships, yet, once complete, they create a cohesive whole.
Elizabeth 2012 cedar lumber and oil paint 79” x 64” x 13”
Autumnal 2011 cedar lumber, vine, and oil paint 75” x 90” x 12”
Breathe 2011 cedar lumber and oil paint 45” x 31” x 9”
RACHEL ROTENBERG Rachel Rotenberg was born in Toronto, Canada. She attended the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, and York University, in Toronto. In 1984 she moved to a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where she began to work with wood as her primary medium. Relocating to Baltimore in 1994, she juggled financial employment and raising her five children with her commitment to her sculpture by annexing a studio beside her residence. Since 2015 Rotenberg divides her studio work between Baltimore and Tekoa, Israel. Rachel Rotenberg has received artist grants from the Franz and Virginia Bader Fund, the Harold and Ruth Chenven Foundation, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. She has also received a Creative Baltimore Individual Artist Award, and grants from the Art Bank of Canada and the E.D. Foundation. Rotenberg has exhibited her sculpture in the United States, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Delaware Art Museum, Creative Alliance of Baltimore, the McLean Project for the Arts, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, Hillyer Art Gallery in Washington, DC, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, Marianne Boesky and Lori Bookstein Galleries in New York, Mount St. Mary’s University, Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, the Washington County Museum of Art, and many Baltimore area galleries. Rotenberg is currently involved in an extended project in Columbia, Maryland, with the Howard Hughes Corporation.
RACHEL ROTENBERG: SANITY OCTOBER 24 – DECEMBER 10 Please note Goucher’s campus will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday November 22-26.
ARTIST’S RECEPTION:
Tuesday, November 14, 6-8 p.m.
THE SILBER GALLERY
Sanford J. Ungar Athenaeum GALLERY HOURS
DIRECTIONS
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday 410-337-6477
Baltimore Beltway, I-695, to exit 27A. Make first left onto campus.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. The Silber Gallery program is funded with the assistance of grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts and Sciences.
IMAGE ON COVER: Before Midnight, 2012, cedar lumber, vine, and oil paint, 86” x 78” x 46”
18194-6688 10/17
IMAGE ON PAGE 2: Black Magic, 2012, cedar lumber, vine, and oil paint, 51” x 36” x 35”