Clare Rojas

Clare E. Rojas
Born 1976 (age 40–41)
Columbus, Ohio[1]
Nationality American

Clare Rojas was born 1976 in Columbus, Ohio, and is an internationally shown artist, currently based in San Francisco and is part of the Mission School.[2] She is "known for creating powerful folk-art-inspired tableaus that tackle traditional gender roles."[3] She works in a variety of media, including painting, installations, video, street art, and children's books.[1]

Early life and education

As a teenager, Rojas visited a nursing home, where she would make portraits in pastel and oil, while she listened to the interesting stories of her subjects.[2]

She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design.[4] At RISD, she originally studied printmaking, which informed her use of color, layering and sizing. In her search for non toxic paint, she discovered gouache, which she used to paint like a printmaker.[2]

Career

Rojas work is inspired by folk art. She loves quilts and loves to tell stories, which is reflected in her work.[5]

In her more recent work, Rojas has moved from figurative paintings into pure geometric abstraction.[6] Inspired by Native American textiles, Quaker Art, and Byzantine mosaics, Rojas creates narratives depicting interactions between humans and animals, focusing on history’s journey to find peace. She brings multiple artistic influences together in her textiles by incorporating abstract geometry found in quilts and architecture. [7] She uses painting and abstraction as meditation, saying "I was once told the only way to get out of your head is to get into your body … That’s how I feel about abstract work. It’s instinctual. A way of seeing that is more about feeling than over intellectualizing."[8] Rojas is also known for adding elements of female sexuality into her artwork. She does this to give credit to women and recognize their natural strengths.[7]

Peggy Honeywell

Rojas also plays guitar and banjo under the stage name Peggy Honeywell.[1] She has released two albums: Faint Humms (2005) and Green Mountain (2006)

Personal life

Rojas married fellow artist Barry McGee in 2005. She adopted his daughter, Asha (Sanskrit for hope), from his previous marriage to Margaret Kilgallen.[9] Kilgallen was a great influence on Rojas's work. Rojas did her best to honor Kilgallen and her work, even after Kilgallen's death in 2001 of cancer, shortly after the birth of her daughter.

Selected solo exhibitions

Public Art

Awards

Albums

Clare Rojas performs under the stage name Peggy Honeywell. She has released three albums:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Boas, Natasha. "Clare Rojas". McSweeny's. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Clare Rojas: Causing an Uproar". XLR8R. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  3. ↑ Bellman, Erica (November 7, 2013). "On View | Clare Rojas Gets in Touch With Her Abstract Side". NYTimes Magazine. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  4. ↑ "Clare E. Rojas Biography" (PDF). Gallery Paule Anglim. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Clare Rojas: Causing an Uproar". XLR8R. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  6. ↑ Frank, Priscilla (Nov 15, 2013). "Artist Clare Rojas Talks Abstraction, Art Market Gossip And Louie C.K.". Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Clare E. Rojas - 71 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy". www.artsy.net. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  8. ↑ Greene, Terry (2016-10-06). "Clare Rojas on painting". Just Another Painter. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  9. ↑ Goodyear, Dana (August 2015). "A Ghost in the Family". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Clare Rojas: Male Preserve". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  11. ↑ "http://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/tag/clare-rojas". www.artandarchitecture-sf.com. Retrieved 2017-03-25. External link in |title= (help)

General references

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