Rolph’s exhibition of a new body of work made over the last year showcases the artist’s signature Triplewall paintings. A continuation of his visually impactful paintings, these new works reflect his evolving exploration of high velocity color and layered narratives. The compositional potential of his painting strategies on Triplewall plastic allow the viewer’s senses to be fully engaged. The paintings are layered and emotive, combining paint, drawings and collage with art historical and Pop Art references.
In the “WCW” painting, there are heraldic motifs and the drawing of a cowboy hat near the top. Two large floaty irregular cylindrical “shapes”, one outlined and one purple and white, billow across the surface like curtains. Across the bottom there is a design-like twisted shape in the middle in purple/gray. Along the bottom two larger areas of yellow bracket a pink rectangle that hangs on bronze strings like a banner without a name. The composition regains a sort of architectural order with turquoise and pink lines near the center of the painting. There are many fragments of colors and lens like shapes throughout the painting.
The exhibition’s title WCW is in homage to the American Modernist poet William Carlos Williams whose work the artist has long admired and is evident in the titles chosen such as “red wheelbarrow”. The poet’s friend, Kenneth Burke, said that poetry is “equipment for living, a necessary guide amid the bewilderments of life”. Rolph’s new paintings are built around and above model airplane instructions that work as a backdrop for his sharp, delicate, painterly and emotive compositions. The idea of creating and exploration is thus embedded in the background, and serves as a metaphor for the artist’s studio.
Looping painted lines of color, purple, teal and blue among them, float above as navigational devices. Prints, watercolors and drawings jostle for attention around all of Rolph’s compositions. The work throughout the exhibition is a visual equivalent of a poem.
Rolph has an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art, London and was the Rome Scholarship at the British School at Rome. His recent solo exhibitions include ‘Painted on the sky’, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston; ‘Recollection’, 532 Gallery; ‘Atelier’, E.S.A.D. Valence, France; ‘kissing balloons in the jungle’, Poppy Sebire gallery, London; ‘ten minutes from now’, Eden Rock Gallery, St.Barths. His work is represented in many international collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Tate Gallery, London.
For more information, please contact the gallery at info@532gallery.com
