john paul rosenberg

John Paul Rosenberg. Known for collaborative projects and socially engaged public performances, the artist challenges art historic traditions to create agency and find freedom within systems. The artist plays with the viewer’s expectations and in recent work, deconstructs and re-activates the frame.  Remnants of material, throwaway tarps and used drop cloths embrace traditional techniques such as geometric abstraction and tromp l'oeil.  The activated negative space with elements such as suspending strings, gentle folds, flexible straps that tug, hug edges, reveal or conceal surface tension, move two dimensional passive paintings into three dimensional active objects. They are anthropomorphic "actionables," that energetically engage their surroundings.  The work is about transformation and symbolically acts as windows for personal and communal conditions, connectivity and untapped potentiality.