LEAH ROSENBERG: To Open Eyes

13 December 2019 – 14 February 2020

Hodges Taylor is pleased to present, To Open Eyes, a solo exhibition by San Francisco-based artist Leah Rosenberg, who returns to Charlotte after her recent McColl Center for Art + Innovation residency (2017). A survey of drawings, sculptures, and prints made while in residence in Italy over the summer offers a refreshing commentary on recording through color and repetitive mark-making. The opening reception with the artist will be held on Friday, December 13 from 6 to 8pm. An artist talk, moderated by Lia Newman, Director/Curator of Davidson College’s Van Every/Smith Galleries, will be held on Saturday, December 14 from 11am to 12:30pm. To Open Eyes Leah’s first exhibition with Hodges Taylor.

A devoted “color collector”, Rosenberg’s use of the medium creates a dialogue between viewer and artist, time and place. While many of Rosenberg’s prior projects involve public engagement or site-specific installation, the work presented in this exhibition stems from the artist’s instinct to return to a solitary studio practice, influenced by color theorist, teacher, and artist, Josef Albers (1888-1976). The exhibition title references Albers’ fundamental lesson: to teach his students to see beyond; to see what is overlooked; and to open their eyes in order to see the things we encounter in our everyday environment with new significance.

Through a residency this past summer in Tuscany, Rosenberg set out to create a practice predicated on ritual and discipline. By following a predetermined plan, the works on paper and cultural objects presented speak to the process of making as a way to stop, and start to see from a different perspective. Together, they form a record of the artist’s self-directed process, like journal entries, on her meditative journey. Rosenberg, like the ever-influential Albers, encourages us to slow down, unplug, open up, and trust the process more than the end result.

Exhibition catalog:  Leah Rosenberg: To Open Eyes

ABOUT LEAH ROSENBERG

Based in San Francisco, Leah Rosenberg’s art spans painting, installation, sculpture, printmaking, and food, while focusing on the role of color in our lives and its emotional or psychological impact. Her work has been presented in solo and two-person exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Past residencies include the Recology in San Francisco, Vermont Studio Center, Project 387, Facebook Inc., Google, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and McColl Center for Art & Innovation in Charlotte, NC, where she debuted Color for the People, her site-specific installation exploring color and flavor. Her commissioned mural, Everywhere a Color, which is permanently installed in the International Terminal of San Francisco Airport and her book, The Color Collector’s Handbook (Chronicle Books, 2018), invite people from all over the world to connect through color. Leah worked as Creative Director for Color Factory in San Francisco and New York City. Rosenberg received a BFA from Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, BC (2003) and an MFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA (2008).

Installation images by Lydia Bittner-Baird.

For inquiries, click here to contact Lauren Harkey.