Seeing red
Libby Rosa
June 2 - June 30, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 3J Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception: Friday, June 2, 2023
Blah Blah Gallery is proud to present Seeing Red, a site-specific installation by Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary artist Libby Rosa. The artist's first solo exhibition in Philadelphia features new paintings and sculptures that explore concepts of control and transformation, created from the artist's personal lexicon of symbols, characters, and places that are simultaneously universal and alien.
Rosa's exploration of creation and transformation originated in childhood-one that was colored by her family's frequent relocations-in which the artist embodied the essence of a witch by making magical brews and potions in her backyard. Through the gathering of sticks, plant matter, and other natural materials, that were then mixed and cooked on a make-believe stove, Rosa imagined the metamorphosis of these concoctions into animals, people, and monsters. The artist-as-witch possessed a power as a creator, maker, and controller of her environment-a power that has since transferred over to Rosa's painting, sculpture, and installation practice.
Seeing Red demonstrates Rosa's alchemical ability to morph natural phenomena and color-such as rain and fire; hues of blues and reds-into dynamic personifications of their source elements. The witch's presence is evident throughout Seeing Red in various, transformational forms: the gallery windows are theatrically framed by curtains that appear to be on fire, which is spreading, only to be extinguished by the cool blue floor. The curtains are inexorably held in place by enlarged insect pins made of copper and steel. Near the curtains sits the sculpture "Metamorphosis of Medusa," which depicts a failed attempt at capturing a butterfly by preserving its inverse in stone. Accompanying the witch's presence is an original musical composition created in collaboration with Samuel Garigliano that will be played throughout the course of the exhibition.
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Libby Rosa (b. 1993, Pittsburgh, PA) is an artist and curator working in Philadelphia, PA. She is the founder of Peep Projects, a project/gallery space in Kensington, Philadelphia. She received her BFA from University of Wisconsin - Madison (2015) and her MFA from Cornell University (2019). She has been featured in David Zwirner’s Platform Gallerist Interview (One Day), New American Paintings (Issue # 41), Maake Magazine (artist-run interview), and Nightblock Magazine (edition # I I ). She participated in a two-person exhibition at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in 2022 and has had solo exhibitions at Bibliowicz Gallery (Ithaca, NY) and Sweet Lorraine Gallery (Brooklyn, NY). She’s been included in group shows at Safe Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Signal Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Marquee Projects (Bellport, NY) and Proto Gallery (Hoboken, NJ). Rosa has attended residencies at Trestle Art Space, ASMBLY Session #1 and VCU (SSP, 2015). Rosa has an upcoming solo exhibition at Blah Blah in Philadelphia, PA in June 2023 and will be attending the Tongue River Artist Residency this summer in Dayton, Wyoming.