“Sharon Lockhart/Noa Eshkol” 

Lois Foster Gallery, February 12

“Sharon Lockhart/Noa Eshkol” is a multi-channel film installation by Sharon Lockhart that showcases the work of Israeli dance composer, textile artist, and theorist Noa Eshkol. According to a press release from the Rose, Eshkol is particularly noteworthy for her innovative creation of a dance notation system that uses numbers and symbols to categorize movements. In the exhibit in the Lois Foster Gallery, which first appeared in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Lockhart showcases Eshkol’s choreography through filmed staged dance performances. Some of the dancers in the performances filmed by Lockhart were Eshkol’s students. The setting for these dances is minimal and is adorned with just a few of Eshkol’s notable wall carpets that change from dance to dance. In the exhibit, the videos are projected onto walls, which allows for an up-close, intimate and reflective viewer experience. Lockhart, a Los Angeles-based artist, first came across Eshkol’s work in a 2008 trip to Israel. The exhibit, which is organized by Rose Curator Kim Conaty, is a collaborative union of the two artists. Lockhart’s own artistry brings Eshkol’s work to life in a new light, despite the contemporary artist and the modernist composer never actually having met. 

“Rose Video 08” 

Ben Hagari

Rose Video Gallery

February 12

Organized by Faculty Prof. Curator Gannit Ankori (FA) “Rose Video 08” is a multimedia installation in the Rose Video Gallery displaying Ben Hagari’s “Potter’s Will” (2015) and the rotating studio of a potter. “Potter’s Will” (2015) opens on Paul Chaleff masterfully molding a piece of clay into a pot. The mesmerizing sight of the relatively still potter’s wheel highlights the potter’s process. According to a press release from the Rose, as Chaleff molds, the pot begins to morph into a clay-covered human that is faced with the fire of the kiln. Hagari alludes to primordial myths that concern life, death, creation and destruction. These include Adam and the serpent of Genesis, ancient Egypt’s divine potter Khnum, the tail-biting snake and the Uroboros. Chaleff’s moldings also transform into references to geometric symbols — squares turning to circles — and the four elements — earth, water, fire, air. As the Rose says, the contemporary video art along with the physical representation of a potter’s studio truly immerses the audience into the world of the prehistoric art of pottery.

“Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?”

Upper Fineberg and Lower Rose Galleries

February 12

C     urated by Rose Curator-at-Large Katy Siegel and Curatorial Assistant Caitlin Julia, “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?” is a retrospective of Drexler’s works. The exhibit in the Upper Fineberg and Lower Rose Galleries will showcase several of Drexler’s multidisciplinary works, including sculptures from early in her career, her foremost paintings and collages, and her award-winning novels and plays. The exhibit also features video and photographic documentation of Drexler’s varied theatrical career. According to a press release from the Rose, Drexler is considered to have served as a prominent contributor to the New York City art scene, particularly with her Pop Art works. Her large-format paintings and collages that used imagery from 1960s newspapers, movies, and advertisements particularly stand out and resound with the works of her contemporaries. As the release says, “Yet Drexler’s work unfolds personal and social conflict with a political consciousness rare in the cool art of that moment and an explicitness that fearlessly courts vulgarity.”