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Kay Rosen

SELECTED WORKS
Various Strata
1985
1-Shot sign paint on wall

Dimensions variable
This installation size: 78 x 78 inches (198.1 x 198.1 cm)
Signed on accompanying certificate
(Inventory #24255)

Constructed Landscape (Winter)
2012
Latex paint on wall

Installation measurements vary
This installation:  8′ x 10′ 8″
(Inventory #24818)

Exhibited: January 2013 – September 2013

Read more about this work here

Unconstructed (Home)
2011
Enamel paint on canvas

22 x 36 x 1 1/4 inches (55.9 x 91.4 x 3.2 cm)
Signed and dated verso
(Inventory #35627)

The Man
1989/2011
Black matte vinyl text on wall

Edition of 3
Dimensions variable
Signed and numbered on accompanying certificate
(Inventory #33057)

Sombra Sobre el Hombre (Shadow Over Man)
2017-2018
Acryla gouache on watercolor paper

Image size:  5 1/4 x 22 1/4 inches  (13.3 x 56.5 cm)
Paper size:  22 x 30 inches  (55.9 x 76.2 cm)
Frame size:  25 x 33 inches  (63.5 x 83.8 cm)
Signed on reverse
(Inventory #29958)

Queue Up
2020
Acrylic gouache on rough watercolor paper

22 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches (57.2 x 76.8 cm)
Signed and dated verso in graphite
(Inventory #36127)

Hot, Hot
2022
Acrylic gouache on rough watercolor paper

20 x 15 3/16 inches (50.8 x 38.6 cm)
Signed and dated verso in graphite
(Inventory #36129)

Greyer G
1980-2008
Color pencil on paper

Paper size: 15 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches (39.4 x 56.5 cm)
Frame size: 18 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches (47.6 x 64.8 cm)
(Inventory #37029)

Y
2014
Painted bronze

Edition of 6, 2 AP
9 1/2 x 12 x 7/8 inches (24.1 x 30.5 x 2.2 cm)
(Inventory #32050)

Howdy Ma’am
2019
Set of 15 screenprints on Hahnemühle Heavy Rag paper

Edition of 15
Image/paper size (each): 12 x 21 inches (30.5 x 53.3 cm)
Initialed and numbered, each sheet is numbered 1/15-15/15 to indicate order, all on reverse in graphite
(Inventory #31025)

Palimpsest
1991/2020
Matte latex paint on wall

Dimensions variable
This installation size: 90 x 65 inches (228.6 x 165.1 cm)
Edition of 12, 3 AP, 1 PP
Signed on accompanying certificate
(Inventory #32026)

Between You, Me, and the Sea
2019
Digital video with sound

Runtime: 48 minutes
Edition of 10
Signed and numbered on accompanying certificate
(Inventory #33383)

Mappings
2017
Set of 12 screenprints

Edition of 25
Overall measurements vary
Image/paper size (each): 13 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches (34.9 x 24.8 cm)
Signed, dated, and numbered on reverse on one sheet
(Inventory #32241)

Short Story
1993/2017
Set of three screenprints

Edition of 25
Paper size (each) 18 x 26 inches (45.7 x 66 cm)
Signed, numbered, and dated on reverse in graphite on first sheet
(Inventory #32246)

Stilllife with Blue Table (Earth Quake)
2007
Screenprint

Paper size: 23 x 19 1/2 inches (58.4 x 49.5 cm)
Edition of 25
Signed, dated, and numbered on reverse in graphite
(Inventory #32238)

Palimpsest
1991
Relief etching in red on Rives BFK white paper with deckled edge

Image size: 19 5/8 x 14 inches (49.8 x 35.6 cm)
Paper size: 25 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches (65.1 x 49.8 cm)
Edition of 27, 5 AP, 1 PP
Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil on verso
(Inventory #37031)

Only the Lonely
2012
Lithograph on handmade paper with deckled edge

Image size: 7 1/8 x 10 inches (18.1 x 25.4 cm)
Paper size: 19 3/8 x 23 3/4 inches (49.2 x 60.3 cm)
Edition of 20
Signed, dated and numbered on reverse
(Inventory #28776)

Monuments
2015
Silkscreen

Edition of 35, 5 TP
16 x 20 inches  (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Signed and numbered on reverse
(Inventory #32177)

Do Not Disturb
2007
Letterpress print

Edition of 100
14 x 22 inches (35.6 x 55.9 cm)
Signed and numbered on reverse
(Inventory #32172)

Obfuscate
2008
Letterpress print

Image size: 21 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches (54 x 33.7 cm)
Paper size: 22 x 14 inches (55.9 x 35.6 cm)
Frame size: 30 1/2 x 22 3/4 inches (77.5 x 57.8 cm)
Edition of 50
Signed, numbered and dated on reverse on label
(Inventory #36545)

IOU
2017
Letterpress print on board

Image/paper size:  25 x 44 inches  (63.5 x 111.8 cm)
Edition of 20
Signed, dated and numbered on reverse in graphite
(Inventory #28832)

Sisyphus
1991/2011
Continuous loop on dvd of over 70 misspellings of the word, "Sisyphus"

Edition of 100
Signed and numbered on accompanying certificate
(Inventory #23269)

Blue Monday
2015
Continuous loop on dvd, with sound

9 minutes, 12 seconds
Edition of 100
Signed and numbered on accompanying certificate
(Inventory #27931)

Exhibition View
Exhibition View
Exhibition View
Additional Information

Kay Rosen’s investigation into the visual possibilities of language has been her primary focus since 1968, when she traded in the academic study of languages for the study of language-based art. Through paintings, drawings, murals, prints, collages, and videos, Rosen has sought to generate new meaning from everyday words and phrases by substituting scale, color, materials, composition, graphic design, and typography for the printed page.

While political issues often form the bedrock of Rosen’s artwork, she insists that her work is driven not by politics, but by language, and she follows it to whatever place it takes her. Rosen loves the physical act of drawing and painting, and materially her paintings and drawings are intensively rendered; however, she considers language to be found material, conceptually placing her in the more passive role of a cognitive observer and enabler of language. The writer Rhonda Lieberman described her as a revealer of language who “shows it doing things that are totally above, beyond, and/or below its function as a mode of communication.”

Rosen’s work has been described as sculpture, poetry, architecture, and performance. Roberta Smith once called her a “writer’s sculptor” and Eileen Myles called her the “poet of the art world.” In a 2014 piece for Art In America, Rosen wrote: “The linguist in me wanted meaning to be carried by the structure of the words, not type style; the inner painter insisted that color convey meaning; the sculptor in me obsessed about the construction of letterforms through materials and process; and any poetic instincts strove for efficiency.”

Kay Rosen has been the subject of numerous articles, reviews, and group and solo exhibitions, including in 1998 a two-venue mid-career survey entitled Kay Rosen: Li[f]eli[k]e, curated by Connie Butler and Terry R. Myers at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and Otis College of Art Design. She has been the recipient of awards that include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 2017 and three National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Grants. Her work is included in many institutional and private collections. Rosen taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for twenty-four years. She was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas and lives in New York City and Gary, Indiana.

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), The Art Show 2022

November 3, 2022
- November 6, 2022

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Fair Fall 2022 Online Edition

October 27, 2022
- October 30, 2022

One Wall, One Work: Kay Rosen

November 6, 2021
- December 18, 2021

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Fair Fall 2021 Online Edition

October 15, 2021
- October 31, 2021

Kay Rosen: Lists, 1989-2021

September 18, 2021
- October 23, 2021

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Fair Spring 2021 Online Edition

May 14, 2021
- May 28, 2021

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA), Fine Art Print Fair (online only) 2020

October 7, 2020
- November 1, 2020

Not So Simple

August 5, 2020
- September 2, 2020

Featuring works by Nona Faustine, Shirin Neshat, Julian Opie, Kay Rosen, and Suara Welitoff

Deep and High
(online only)

June 17, 2020
- August 5, 2020

Featuring works by Sam Durant, Jenny Holzer, Kay Rosen, Allen Ruppersberg, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and Fred Wilson

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), The Art Show 2020

February 26, 2020
- March 1, 2020

One Wall, One Work:
Kay Rosen

February 16, 2019
- March 23, 2019

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), The Art Show 2019

February 27, 2019
- March 3, 2019

Syntheses

March 31, 2018
- May 5, 2018

Featuring works by Richard Artschwager, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Tara Donovan, Idris Khan, Kay Rosen, Lorna Simpson, Haim Steinbach, and Sarah Sze

Crossroads

February 17, 2018
- March 24, 2018

Featuring works by John Baldessari, Alicia Mihai Gazcue, Robert Rauschenberg, Kay Rosen, Ed Ruscha, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and Suara Welitoff

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Art Fair, New York 2017

October 26, 2017
- October 29, 2017

Kay Rosen: The Complete Letterpress Works, 1984-2017

April 29, 2017
- June 3, 2017

Days and Dailies

April 29, 2016
- June 11, 2016

Featuring works by Bronlyn Jones, Agnes Martin, Claes Oldenburg, Kay Rosen, and Sarah Sze

MIT List Visual Arts Center 30th Anniversary Print Portfolio

January 9, 2016
- March 12, 2016

Featuring works by Adel Abdessemed, Nairy Baghramian, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ping Chong, Ralph Coburn, Robert Cumming, Ann Hamilton, Runa Islam, György Kepes, Michiko Kon, Ken Okiishi, Otto Piene, Kay Rosen, Tavares Strachan, and Sarah Sze

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Art Show 2016

March 2, 2016
- March 6, 2016

Equal Dimensions

December 12, 2015
- January 30, 2016

Featuring works by Josef Albers, Richard Artschwager, Robert Barry, Mel Bochner, Peter Downsbrough, Erwin Heerich, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Allan McCollum, Giulio Paolini, Liliana Porter, Stephen Prina, Kay Rosen, Robert Ryman, and Fred Sandback

Additive Logic

June 13, 2015
- July 24, 2015

Featuring works by Bernd & Hilla Becher, Mel Bochner, Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt, Kay Rosen, Ed Ruscha, Richard Tuttle, and Franz Erhard Walther

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Art Show 2015

March 3, 2015
- March 8, 2015

 

 

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Art Fair, New York 2013

November 6, 2013
- November 10, 2013

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Art Show 2013

March 5, 2013
- March 10, 2013

One Wall, One Work:
Kay Rosen

January 26, 2013
- March 9, 2013

Blues

December 1, 2012
- January 19, 2013

Featuring works by John Baldessari, Mel Bochner, Frank Egloff, Robert Mangold, Kay Rosen, Kate Shepherd, and Suara Welitoff

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Art Fair, New York 2012

October 31, 2012
- November 4, 2012

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Art Show 2012

March 7, 2012
- March 11, 2012

 PAR  PAR
S      E     T

January 28, 2012
- March 10, 2012

Featuring works by Josef Albers, Robert Barry, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Tara Donovan, Frank Egloff, Dan Flavin, On Kawara, Sol LeWitt, Allan McCollum, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Kay Rosen, Ed Ruscha, and Fred Sandback

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Art Fair, New York 2011

November 4, 2011
- November 7, 2011

Featuring works by: Sophie Calle, Peter Downsbrough, Joseph Grigely, Glenn Ligon, Sol LeWitt, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Liliana Porter, Kay Rosen, Lorna Simpson, and Kiki Smith

Surface Area

September 10, 2011
- October 15, 2011

Featuring works by Peter Downsbrough, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Kay Rosen, Robert Ryman, and James Turrell

Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Art Show 2011

March 2, 2011
- March 6, 2011



No Way

January 6, 2011
- February 1, 2011

Featuring works by Bruce Nauman, Kay Rosen, and Rachel Perry Welty

International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA)
Art Show 2010

November 4, 2010
- November 7, 2010

Kay Rosen:
Black and White and Read All Over

September 10, 2010
- October 16, 2010