Stanley Rosen: Slabs and coils, scallops and disks February 6, 2021 2:30 pm
Stanley Rosen, installation view at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects
Contributed by Rachel Youens / Stanley Rosen came of age as a sculptor during the 1960s and 1970s, when ceramicists and sculptors were challenging the hegemonic hold that painting had in the art world as the medium of heroic significance. His sculptures are made at a modest scale that, somewhat paradoxically, implies monumentality. Incorporating and cross-pollinating vessels and architecture, his formal language adapts traditional methods to new expressions. He employs slabs, coils, scallops, disks, and tiles. Most works are unglazed in various earthen clay hues – ochers, siennas, or charcoal – leaving us to ponder porous or metallic surfaces. Crucially, Rosen’s forms accommodate the spatial limits they meet and inhabit, welcoming viewers in.