Thomas Rose
July 10 Through August 20, 1999
INSTALLATION ARTIST, TOM ROSE EXPLORES THE CONCEPTUAL
AND THE SENSUAL IN 'ASH GARDEN'
"Ash Garden," an exhibition by renowned American sculptor Tom Rose, is at the Housatonic Museum of Art from July 10 th through August 20 th. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Rose is best known both for his installation art, as well as his sculptures, which use everyday materials including glass, wood, galvanized steel, stone and water. These materials, which may be carved, etched, painted or stained, are combined to create for the viewer a space that recalls specific experiences.
" Ash Garden" includes sketches, drawings and models of his larger installations. These installations use videos, music, and sculpture to create meditative spaces, that join the conceptual with the sensuous," according to Housatonic Museum Director Robbin Zella.
"His work asks viewers to become active participants in the artistic process by bringing their personal lives and emotional experiences with them
when viewing the works. Thus each viewer will react individually to the various elements of the work.
Rose, a professor at the University of Minnesota has created pieces such as "Searching for the Spiritual" and "Body of Water: Fourth Elegy" which are mediations inspired by the death of his parents.
He described the inspiration for "Searching" by saying, "I set out to examine the experience of people as they individually experienced the death of their father."
He combined video tapes of individuals with inserts from the texts of autopsy reports. "When cut into the narrative, it [the autopsy report] constructs a parallel narrative to that which is being given by the speaker. It is the space between these narratives - that shadow - what I believe in and is most interesting to me."
Also, the artist has given an outdoor sculpture titled "Garden Gate" to the Museum that will remain on permanent display in the courtyard.
Rose is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Minnesota Museum of Art, Minneapolis Museum of Art, the University of Minnesota, the University of New Mexico, San Francisco Arts Commission as well as in many private and corporate collections.
He has exhibited widely including regular exhibitions in New York City at the Steinbaum Krauss Gallery and the Rosa Esman Gallery, the University of Minnesota, St. John's College {Collegeville, Minn.), East Carolina University (Greenville, N. Car.), and galleries in Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, and elsewhere.
Rose has been commissioned to create works for the Minnesota Zoological Garden, Hennepin Center for the Arts (Minneapolis), and Sacred Heart University among others.
He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and his masters in fine arts from the University of California at Berkeley.