Here We Go
Here We Go
Jessica Silverman is delighted to present “Here We Go,” a solo show by Clare Rojas, the California artist best known for her magic realist and otherworldly abstract paintings.
“Here We Go” is the gallery’s first in-real-life exhibition in over a year; it marks the soft opening of an almost completely renovated, new gallery space at 621 Grant Avenue (between Sacramento and California Street).
Here We Go also happens to be the title of the painting above, an emblematic manifesto that depicts the dance of four corvids, highly intelligent birds capable of using tools and recognizing human faces. The acrylic-on-panel work bears witness to Rojas’s superstitious Peruvian heritage, her interest in animal neuroscience, and her deep concern for the environment. This complex choreography of black birds around a yawning red void and blue moon suggests coupling and copulation, sickness and health, snares and freedom, death and re-birth.
Below are two recently completed, small canvases that reveal Rojas as a dazzling colorist, who is not afraid of narrative, even in the ancient classical form of a journey. My Dream Home winks warmly at the California landscapes of Wayne Thiebaud and David Hockney, while Rainbow Path reflects the fact that the yellow brick road of San Francisco is queerly multi-color.
“Here We Go,” the show, is a virtuoso display of Rojas’s formal and spiritual evolution in oil on linen and acrylic on panel. Her distinct style of high-folk, figurative-abstract art enlivens art history and elevates popular culture.
Clare Rojas (b. 1976, Columbus, OH) has a BFA in printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in painting from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been awarded grants and residencies from Artadia, Eureka Fellowship, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. She has enjoyed solo exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; IKON Gallery, Birmingham, England; Museum Het Domein, Netherlands; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA; Savannah College of Art and Design, GA; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS; Knoxville Museum of Art, TN; Belkin Satellite, Vancouver, BC; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA. Her work is in the permanent collections of MoMA New York, NY; SFMOMA, CA; Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens, Greece; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain; Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland, OH; San Jose Museum of Art, CA; Berkeley Art Museum, CA; and the Smart Museum, University of Chicago, IL. Rojas lives and works in San Francisco, CA.
Clare Rojas has recently released a limited edition silk scarf through Tessuto Editions. Click here for more info.


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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Installation view
Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
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Clare Rojas
My Dream Home, 2021
Oil on linen
16 x 15 inches / 40.6 x 38.1 cm
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Clare Rojas
Rainbow Path, 2021
Oil on linen
12 x 9 inches / 30.5 x 22.9 cm
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Clare Rojas
Rainbow Path, 2021
Detail
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Clare Rojas
Here We Go, 2020
Acrylic on panel
56 x 64 inches / 142.2 x 162.6 cm
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Clare Rojas
Boulders In My Way, 2020
Oil on linen
51 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches / 130.8 x 105.4 x 6.3 cm
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Clare Rojas
Waiting Room, 2020
Oil on linen
56 x 70 inches / 142.2 x 177.8 cm
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Clare Rojas
Black Bird, White Owl, 2020
Acrylic on panel
58 x 66 x 2 1/2 inches / 147.3 x 167.6 x 6.3 cm
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Clare Rojas
My Pet Black Widow, 2020
Oil on panel
30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches / 77.5 x 62.2 cm
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Clare Rojas
Goddess of the Void, 2020
Oil on linen
50 x 40 x 1 1/2 inches / 127 x 101.6 x 3.8 cm
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Clare Rojas
Harnessing the Energy Light, 2020
Oil on linen
13 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches / 33.7 x 26 x 3.8 cm
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Clare Rojas
Waiting, 2020
Acrylic on panel
48 x 48 inches / 121.9 x 121.9 cm
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Clare Rojas
Amulet of the Universe, 2020
Oil on linen
24 x 30 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 76.2 x 3.8 cm
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Clare Rojas
Heavy With Rain, 2020
Oil on linen
41 1/2 x 51 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches / 105.4 x 130.8 x 6.3 cm
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Clare Rojas
Ominous Nature of Fog, 2020
Oil on linen
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
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Clare Rojas
Exhausted, 2020
Oil on linen
44 3/4 x 61 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches / 113.7 x 156.8 x 6.3 cm

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Here We Go, 2021
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

My Dream Home, 2021
Oil on linen
16 x 15 inches / 40.6 x 38.1 cm

Rainbow Path, 2021
Oil on linen
12 x 9 inches / 30.5 x 22.9 cm

Rainbow Path, 2021
Detail

Here We Go, 2020
Acrylic on panel
56 x 64 inches / 142.2 x 162.6 cm

Boulders In My Way, 2020
Oil on linen
51 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches / 130.8 x 105.4 x 6.3 cm

Waiting Room, 2020
Oil on linen
56 x 70 inches / 142.2 x 177.8 cm

Black Bird, White Owl, 2020
Acrylic on panel
58 x 66 x 2 1/2 inches / 147.3 x 167.6 x 6.3 cm

My Pet Black Widow, 2020
Oil on panel
30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches / 77.5 x 62.2 cm

Goddess of the Void, 2020
Oil on linen
50 x 40 x 1 1/2 inches / 127 x 101.6 x 3.8 cm

Harnessing the Energy Light, 2020
Oil on linen
13 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches / 33.7 x 26 x 3.8 cm

Waiting, 2020
Acrylic on panel
48 x 48 inches / 121.9 x 121.9 cm

Amulet of the Universe, 2020
Oil on linen
24 x 30 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 76.2 x 3.8 cm

Heavy With Rain, 2020
Oil on linen
41 1/2 x 51 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches / 105.4 x 130.8 x 6.3 cm

Ominous Nature of Fog, 2020
Oil on linen
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm

Exhausted, 2020
Oil on linen
44 3/4 x 61 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches / 113.7 x 156.8 x 6.3 cm