Kay Rosen
The use of the word or the sign is not new in painting. From Stuart
Davis and Robert Indiana to Lawrence Weiner and Remy Zaugg, the representation
of language has been explored in a variety of manners, formally or
conceptually. But while other artists manipulate words for their visual
composition alone, or for their capacity to describe the visual, Kay Rosen uses
the painted word to reveal the linguistic foundation of perception and the
complex nature of human communication by exposing the multiple insinuations of
language.
Rosen’s education, not surprisingly, includes degrees in linguistics,
Spanish, and french. Her subject is the optical form of language: how it
dictates thought and subverts or alters the accepted meanings that words
generate, based on an interplay between verbal and graphic structure.
Upon first inspection, the paintings seem simple and straightforward. Further observation reveals a clever and humourous manipulation of language. Through a combination of anagrams, abbreviations, and truncations, Rosen’s painted words both play with the formal presence of written language and explore the limits of interpretation of the printed word. The artist turns palindromes, puns, and linguistic jokes into images, and at the same time revealing the subtleties of language. Words are layered or rearranged so as to become their opposites. Letters are interchanged so that the words they compose assume different meanings and reveal themselves anew.
Using a witty manipulation of words, Rosen bridges the gap between form and content by demonstrating the flexible capacity of words. Above all, her work is characterized by a playful ambiguity, where exclusivity of meaning is challenged and rejected. The visual and verbal potential of words is exploited and emancipated in a serie of colorful paintings which appear to be mechanically executed on account of their standardized, graphic appearance, but are in fact meticulously crafted by hand. This optical precision is based on a reductive, austere aesthetic of calculated, deceptive simplicity. Rosen’s bold Minimalist paintings may appear initially to negate the painterly process but are in fact a celebration of the practice of painting, in its most traditional sense.
Rosen’s
paintings reaffirm what is now common knowledge – that language is a loaded
cultural construct which is never neutral, and is open to multiple readings.
The interesting aspect of rosen’s work is that she does not rely on ready-made
meaning but rather brings apart the operation of language itself. The artist
also successfully eliminates the barrier between herself and the viewer;
Rosen’s work demands, in fact depends on, the active engagement of the viewer
providing them with the opportunity to de-codify what initially appears as
given. While her method may have certain visual limitations, and her
rationalist approach denies us any overwhelming response to her work, she
successfully investigates the structure of language and makes it accessible to
the ordinary layperson. At the same time, Rosen’s word-plays are an intelligent
investigation of context, which is a refreshing, thought-provoking alternative
to the multitude of cliches and slogans we unquestioningly consume on a daily
basis.
Unlimited Contemporary Art
Katerina Gregos, Kay Rosen: Unlimited Gallery,