Art Rosenbaum paintings at the Dodd

A towering figure in the school of art, UGA and the Athens community in the broadest sense, Wheatley Professor in Fine Arts Emeritus Art Rosenbaum will present a major series of paintings Adamham Town and The Grey Rabbit Trilogy, shown together for the first time, alongside more recent works. The exhibition will be on display from July 23 - August 19 and a reception will be held on Friday, July 23, 6-8p.m. Flagpole runs a lovely preview:

Offering a glimpse into Rosenbaum’s decades-long career as a professor, “Sextet” is a series of six scenes, each rendered as both a graphite drawing and oil painting, that were based on black-and-white Polaroid photographs shot many years ago during a drawing class. Rosenbaum asked his students to stage dramas with masks and props to later use as subject matter, and the time finally arrived after rediscovering the images among his vast stashes of old photographs. 

Though there are clues that reveal the setting as a campus, the vignettes largely exist without any discernible plot. Instead, the viewer is left to consider the complexity of works that document bursts of real-life spontaneity and playfulness, yet also suggest a layer of mysteriousness, obscurity and tension bubbling below the surface. Though they do not specifically reference the pandemic, they hold contradictory, thematic elements that resonated with how the artist was feeling at the time.

Congratulations to Rosenbaum, and to the hundreds of working artists around the world who found their voice while learning under his tutelage. We celebrate the ongoing accomplishments of this great friend of the Franklin College – painter, musician, musicologist, historian, teacher – a legend all his own as a creative force for the extraordinary power of art.

Image: A self-portrait by Art Rosenbaum