Rivers Burn and Run Backwards

Rugburn, Whiskey Back, Rosy Keyser, 2008, sawdust, enamel, and obsidian on canvas, 90×72 inches

Combining ink and enamel paints with materials such as obsidian, twine, mica, silk, and sawdust, Rosy Keyser creates a series of compelling large-scale paintings and a selection of works on paper in her first solo show in NYC, at Peter Blum.

With textures and materials that call to mind Anselm Kiefer, Keyser’s paintings have an immediate, visceral impact. They are abstract, with only a few recognizable elements emerging – some pond grasses perhaps, a reference to a tree – before submerging back into the thick, tar-like surface. The dark paintings in particular, with surfaces that appear bloated from water damage or reflective with mica, are a reminder of goopy oil spills washing up on the beach, mummifying the waterfowl. The paintings depict something undoubtedly toxic, at the same time there is fascination in the process of destruction and an undeniable beauty in the black, shimmering surface. This tension creates a powerful dynamic in Keyser’s compositions.

With their poetically disjointed titles, (And Go May Be Your Here; Flash Burn Arc Eye; Rugburn, Whiskey Back), this work makes Keyser out to be a modern-day Cassandra – a wild woman, foretelling doom. Indeed, she says the work arises from a deep conviction that the natural world is unstable and impermanent, linking her work to other recent shows by artists concerned about the state of the environment.

But Keyser’s paintings also function on a more personal, psychological level. The pollution seems to develop out of anxious corners of the imagination, as much as any external source. The discernible imagery suggests flashes of a dream, or a memory. And the tactility of the surfaces evokes a strong corporeal response: you can feel the sawdust sticking to your skin, the black enamel clouding your blood, the area of light eliciting a moment of relief. It is as if the instability of the natural world is a metaphor for the unreliability of one’s internal world – or perhaps each amplifies the turbulence in the other.

February 28 – April 19, 2008 at Peter Blum, Chelsea

526 W 29th St
New York (Chelsea)

~ by sheriwills on March 9, 2008.