Opening: Saturday, March 7 from 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Nick Ryan Gallery presents Overlooked, a solo exhibition by New Jersey–based painter Jessica Rohrer. Spanning both floors of the gallery, the exhibition brings together oil paintings on panel and canvas alongside gouache and ink drawings on paper, marking Rohrer’s first solo show in Colorado. We are honored to introduce her work to the region through this expansive presentation.
“In my paintings I usually create a grid and carefully plot how lines and edges fall within the picture plane. The purposeful and exacting presentation of the imagery reflects the importance of formal considerations in the work, and the obsessive attention to detail contributes to the heightened sense of tension present in many of these pieces.
This obsessiveness extends to my interest in the notion of public and private space. My most recent work is based on drone photography. The drone itself is socially loaded, viewed both as a tool of surveillance and as an everyday leisure activity. These aerial images lay bare the physical and socioeconomic elements of neighborhoods through the meticulous depiction of homes, cars, swimming pools, and outdoor furniture. At the same time, the details can feel representative or generic—the houses and cars could be almost anywhere, revealing little about the families who remain out of sight.
Just as we carefully attempt to manipulate others’ perception of us, so too do I wish to curate the viewer’s perception of my subject matter. Traveling above and around these spaces, I sometimes focus closely on individual elements and at other times pull back to emphasize the patterns of rooftops and yard grids. Familiar, mundane details are given equal importance, resulting in an abundance of information that is carefully organized and staged, inviting reflection on how perspective shapes experience.”
Jessica Rohrer
