NYAB Event - Michelle Rogers “Tender Alchemy”

Michelle Rogers “Tender Alchemy”

Jenn Singer Gallery

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Jenn Singer Gallery presents Michelle Rogers: Tender Alchemy, new oils on canvas by leading Irish artist and fervid environmentalist Michelle Rogers. Dark and moody with gobs of thick paint forming land and flesh, Rogers’ impasto rejects the false and destructive dichotomy between man and Nature, instead revealing through her masterful use of light and shadow, the tender alchemy that most deeply connects us to the earth. Based in Rome and New York, Rogers is collected by prestigious institutions including the Bank of Ireland, the Irish Office of Public Works and Department of Foreign Affairs, and is best known for her commissioned portrait of Irish President O’Dailaigh, featured on a postage stamp.

“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” Moved by Joseph Campbell’s words, as well as her belief that it is our disassociation with Nature at the source of the current environmental problems threatening our future, Michelle Rogers’ goal is to reveal Nature’s pulse within our veins through her brush.

Instead of depictions of virile men dominating Nature, Rogers exposes the tenderness and vulnerability of two young men as they reconnect with it. Shadows of leaves dance against their bare skin, camouflaging what it is that separates the two. They become a part of it. Nature’s heartbeat is matched with man’s, and it is this harmony that Rogers hopes could potentially heal the chasm between those that fight against our changing environment and those trying to save it.

Michelle Rogers was born and raised in Dundalk, Ireland on the border between the Northern and Southern regions at the height of the Troubles. In 1993, Amnesty International selected her to go to Bosnia, an experience that resulted in a series of paintings about the darkest side of human nature. In 1998, Rogers traveled to Rome to study Caravaggio, and has lived in both Rome and New York City since.

In 2002, Rogers was invited to show her painting 9-11 Memorial, a tribute to those lost on September 11, at the Irish Arts Center in New York City. Other important exhibitions include Transformations 1,2,3 Tribute to Caravaggio at the Museum of Modern Art in Guadalajara, Mexico and the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome and Troubles at Home, a series which examined the notion of patriotism in North America following the 9-11 attacks; exhibited at Track 16 gallery in Los Angeles. In 2010 Roger’s large-scale painting, Lampedusa - exploring the plight and flight of immigrants of Italy - was on view at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City and featured during The Venice Biennale 52 at St. George Church.

Rogers has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe and North America. Her work is held in important international private collections, and collected by institutions including the Bank of Ireland, the Irish Office of Public Works and Department of Foreign Affairs. Rogers is well known for an Irish postal stamp of her portrait of Irish President O’Dalaigh, and her portrait of the family of Prince Doria Pamphilj on view at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome.

“The study of light and dark, the alchemy of these elements physically and ethically is a lifetime quest.”
-Michelle Rogers