Roseman explores illusion and materiality of cloth

In an almost surreal setting where art and philosophy overlap, lie the works of Harry Roseman, artist and professor of Art at Vassar College. His newest exhibition will run from Dec. 8 until Jan. 14 in the Nancy Margolis Gallery in New York City.

The show will consist of a main-site-specific drawing painted directly on the walls and an installation of sculpture works. "This installation/exhibition, titled ‘Enfold,' continues an examination/conversation I have been having with cloth. A subject that I explored in many works as well as in a permanent sculptural installation at Kennedy Airport in 2000," wrote Roseman, in an emailed statement.

The black-and-white line wall-drawing will give the illusion of a drapery with undulating folds, made to appear like a curtain in its most natural state of existence. The lines of the drawing float and flow around the interior walls of the gallery and blossom into the shape of an invisible cloth, hung on the walls through its black outlines, a cloth through which it's possible to see the bare wall.

The previously made sculpture artworks of the installation included pieces of linen and plywood, modified into an identity change with one another. In Roseman's world of cloth, identities and forms blur into each other, and opposing ideas juxtapose.

His fascination with cloth lies within the wide range of areas he can explore through cloth-themed art works. "Cloth is an object and a metaphor, a slippery fact. When it is not made into something shapely, a shirt or a dress, its thingness becomes even harder to identify. Scale can shift suddenly and unexpectedly—a handkerchief, napkin, sheet, tarp, sail," wrote Roseman.

"I am interested in what happens when two categories of information collide in the making of the object, the disparity of structure, including hard/soft, rigid/fluid, self-contained/susceptible to its surroundings. I am interested in these anomalous juxtapositions that transpose givens, that belie our assumptions in ways that are clearly off but are convincing as a new whole, a new probability, that is both straightforward and uncanny," he added.

The idea of an exhibition at the Nancy Margolis Gallery emerged when Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Gina Ruggeri showed Margolis the poster of Roseman's installation "Hole in the Wall" in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Gallery. This installation was a wall-drawing that aimed to alter the visitors' perception of the gallery by mimicking and distorting architectural elements of the surroundings with its composition.

Roseman worked with various media, including drawing, painting, sculpture and photography during his nearly three decades of experience and made numerous exhibits. His focus is on sculpture, which is the main subject he teaches at Vassar. He has been commissioned for major works of public art, such as the 40-foot polychrome bronze wall-relief for the Wall Street subway station in 1990.

A 600-foot linear relief sculpture titled "Curtain Wall" in Terminal 4 at JFK International Airport carries Roseman's signature. This work consists of sections of white concrete that are sculpted to look like flowing curtains along a passageway, as though the thrust of wind from the passing crowd is making the concrete curtains flow in various directions.

"My work moves around between various concepts, issues and subjects. This movement is both linear and circular," wrote Roseman, describing his artworks over the years.

As for his style, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art Tyler Rowland wrote in an emailed statement, "Harry's unification of drawing (the flat) and sculpture (the round) is an integral part of his work."

"Through close observation and a steady hand he reveals the way things are constructed—by the eye, in the mind and in the world. Exactitude combined with the rupture of materiality and form leads to a unique perceptual experience," added Rowland.

The process of Roseman's installation took an arduous path from drawing numerous curtains from observation to constructing the exhibition on Photoshop and days of practicing. "From last Sunday, Nov. 27 to Dec. 6, we worked in the gallery itself, often working 10, 12 or 14 hours a day," wrote Roseman.

Rhys Bambrick '11, Mollie Flannery '11, Christina Tenaglia '97 and Eric Zimmerman from Cleveland Art Institute '02 and University of Texas at Austin '05, worked with Roseman throughout the installation process. They used the Photoshop projections to draw the lines of the curtain on the wall of the gallery and eventually painted the lines freehand.

The painted lines in the exhibition "Enfold" have a unifying nature, while emphasizing the idea of juxtapositions. "Concurrently this installation and exhibition are about the nature of line, as well as space and flatness as simultaneous experience ... Line that sits one with the wall, is undoubtedly flat, but tells a conflicting story about space and object," wrote Roseman. "In this installation/exhibition I seek to enfold the viewer both externally and internally."