Louis Stern Fine Arts is pleased to present two solo exhibitions opening January 13 : “The Bantam Yard” – Prints and Sculpture by Steve Rogers and “Landscape Dreams” – Collage by Roxene Rockwell.
“The Bantam Yard”
With a nod to the powerful graphic tradition of nineteenth century Japanese printing, Steve Rogers reenvisages the beasts he trained for exhibition poultry competitions in his youth. Boldly confrontational roosters and hens, meticulously observed and rendered in linoleum cut prints, stare coldly out from roughly textured wooden frames demanding praise or respect or a fight. Rogers further elaborates on this theme in terra cotta sculptures, modified replicas of the breeds displayed atop poultry best of show trophies. Unapolagetically masculine in character yet elegantly fluid in style, the roost of Rogers’ memory comes to vibrant rough-hewn life in this barnyard elegy.
“Landscape Dreams”
“In my collages, I can grow anything.” writes Roxene Rockwell. “I can decide against the laws of nature…I can change when and how a field of flowers grow.” Armed with this free-wheeling vision, Rockwell embarks on a dazzling reinvention of the natural world. Constructed on wood, with overlays of acrylic, tree bark, eggshells, paper and photographs, Rockwell’s scenes feature artichokes, red peppers, pears, onions, tears and stars. The surreal and the real are woven together in suprising yet utterly convincing ways. Rockwell’s landscapes seduce us into believing all the eccentricities of her mind’s eye and her hand’s craftmanship. Perhaps, lemons do float in the sky and the squash is a perfect shape for a highway tunnel. In these glittering