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Kay Rosen

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​Trained in languages and linguistics, Kay Rosen realized in the nineteen seventies that what most interested her about language had to be expressed visually, so she left academia and started over as a “self-taught” artist. Drawing on her linguistic background, she began an exploration of the intersection of meaning and structure in language through pictorial means: color, materials, scale, composition, typography, and graphic design.
 
Rosen’s language-based paintings, drawings, editions, collages, installations, and three videos have been exhibited in galleries, museums and institutions internationally for four decades, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; The Art Institute of Chicago; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany; Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein; Prospect 1, New Orleans; The Drawing Center, New York; MASS MOCA, North Adams, Massachusetts; Whitney Museum of American Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Otis College of Art and Design (two-venue mid-career survey); Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; and New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. Her work has been featured in hundreds of books, articles, and reviews and it resides in collections worldwide. Among the honors that Rosen has been awarded was a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017. She was born and raised in Texas and lives in New York City and Gary, Indiana. She taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for twenty-four years.
 
www.kayrosen.com

Image List

1. Go On Goon, 1987, enamel paint on canvas, 4 panels, each 10 x 10 x 1-3/4”
2. The River, 1989, enamel paint on canvas, 16 x 10”
3. The Man, (from the List Series), 1989/1001, etching, 25-1/2 x 19-1/2”
4. Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing, 1994, graphite on paper, 14-5/8 x 21-1/8”
5. Leak, 1997/2017, acrylic paint on wall, Art Institute of Chicago (Collection)
6. Pendulum, 2003/2010, acrylic paint on wall, Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
7. Key, 2007, enamel paint on canvas, 13 x 22-1/2”
8. Tent, 2009/2011, acrylic paint on wall, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College, Cork, Ireland
9. Monuments, 2014, acrylic gouache on paper, 22-1/2 x 30”
10. Murder Scene, 2014, enamel paint, canvas, 22-1/2 x 30-1/4”
11. Echoes, 2014, enamel paint, canvas, 40” x 30”
12. Head Over Heels, 2015, acrylic gouache on paper, 22-1/2 x 15”
13. Trickle Down, 2015/2018, acrylic paint on wall, Kay Rosen: Stirring Wirds, Alexander Gray Associates, New York City

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Home page: In the Rain, 2002, enamel paint on canvas, 18-3/4 x 29”
 
All artworks by Kay Rosen are copyright protected under © Kay Rosen.  
All images courtesy of the Artist.