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    Clare Rojas: Clare’s Balls

    April 25-June 1, 2024

    Jessica Silverman presents “Clare’s Balls,” a solo exhibition of 23 paintings by California artist Clare Rojas. On view from April 25 to June 1, the exhibition riffs on the motif of dots, circles, and orbs. Variously overt and hidden, abstract and literal, funny and serious, the balls foster engagement and change. They are cradled, swept, and teetered upon. Some glow in the night sky; others suggest body parts. Both planetary and cellular, the spheres connect our innermost selves to the outer reaches of the cosmos.

    Four irreverent, geometric paintings feature figures whose bodies are loosely held together by black circles. In What Remains (2024), two characters with magenta-colored flower-heads have torsos composed of black orbs, conjuring both stores of energy and expectant voids. With a figure kneeling on one knee, the narrative could be about an offering or a polite but invasive touch.
    One of the largest works in the show, The Stallion (2024), depicts a man and woman seated in a restaurant booth. She is composed and confident, staring past him into the future. He is awkward – all arms and legs – taking up space without purpose.
    The scene’s inclusion of a fedora, salt and pepper shakers, and a napkin dispenser recalls Edward Hopper’s iconic 1942 painting Nighthawks. This painting by Rojas offers a fresh take on the chronic loneliness of contemporary America. For the woman at the table, this includes a sense of deep alienation from the man seated beside her.
    Elsewhere in the exhibition, spheres make further mischief. In Night Rocks (2024), a lone woman or girl walks atop three large balls along a coastal cliff. Her balancing act is set against a deep blue ocean and bright green earth that glimmer in the moonlight. Expertly layered paint builds into richly saturated multi-colored plains; it’s a meditative process through which the artist finds harmony in chaos.
    Sometimes the orbs are also eyes – clutched in a figure’s hands, nestled in petals’ folds, or found lurking in a cat’s stare. Together with precisely balanced compositions, the works evoke a sense knowing and the calm that comes with it. Deftly exploring the texture and weight of human life with levity and mysticism, Rojas elevates daily experiences to otherworldly realms.
    “Clare’s Balls” is Rojas’s third show with Jessica Silverman. The exhibition bears witness to the artist’s roving creativity and consistent innovation in surrealist abstraction and eco-feminist magic realism.

    Clare Rojas (b. 1976, Columbus, OH) is in the permanent collections of MoMA New York; SFMOMA; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; Orange County Museum of Art, CA; San Jose Museum of Art,CA;Berkeley Art Museum, CA; Smart Museum, University of Chicago; Columbus Museum of Art, OH; Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland; Dakis Joannou Collection, Greece; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain. She has been awarded grants and residencies from Artadia, Eureka Fellowship, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. In 2024, Rojas will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, North Carolina. She has enjoyed previous solo exhibitions MCA Chicago; IKON Gallery, 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; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco. She has a BFA in printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in painting from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Rojas lives and works in Northern California and is represented by Jessica Silverman, San Francisco; Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York and SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina.