Mary Rouse, “Crooning,” January 24 – March 6, 2020

Exhibition Catalogue, Jay Carrier and Mary Rouse

Mary Rouse is a self-taught artist who draws influences from her Navajo Nation father and Jewish Orthodox mother, an immigrant from Ukraine. Rouse is deeply inspired by the small, sacred spaces where science and spirituality collide. The painted box towers are the product of her contemplation of the Higgs boson particle, also known as the “God Particle.” Rouse was struck by the discovery that the Higgs boson makes possible the condition that gives mass to other particles. The images, as well as the boxes, are orderly, organic, and imperfect. The flora that covers this series grows slowly, often repeating forms simply, yet poetically. The boxes are lettered and numbered, subtly reminding the artist of their correct order and the viewer of the fallibility of their maker.

The altered photographs are small and precious, seeking to provide solace to those who have lost loved ones. Holocaust Rememberance and World War II Rememberance are collections of spiritual icons, carefully assembled from the 1940’s issues of National Geographic that Rouse saved following the death of her father. Using gesso, Rouse highlighted or blocked-out portions of each image while thinking about her father as well as the stories the pictures might tell. Rouse has also created a striking group of altered photographic images and gestural totems on cardboard. She works in expansive series, completing dozens of drawing of souls in their flying machines or spirit totems, until, in her words, “my soul feels the series is complete.” Together, these objects function as contemporary petroglyphs, marking the thinnest of places along the veil between this world and the next.

Biography:

Mary Rouse is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Honeoye Falls, NY. She makes her artwork from the materials around her: house paint from discarded paint cans, cardboard from recycling bins, clay from a nearby stream, and found objects from a long forgotten dump. Rouse has been deeply influenced by her Navajo Nation father and her mother, a Ukrainian Orthodox Jewish immigrant. Together, they instilled in her a deep love of nature and a sense of the spiritual underpinning of all life.