Jessica Rohrer
For over a decade, painter Jessica Rohrer has depicted the homes and neighborhoods in which she has lived–from Wisconsin to Brooklyn to New Jersey. Rohrer’s stylistic approach combines elements of traditional miniature paintings with photorealism. Carefully manipulating each scene by emptying them of figures and detritus, she creates a sense of sanitized orderliness. Odd perspectives and tight cropping add to the anxious and ominous tone. Her precisely staged and meticulously painted vignettes balance that which is omitted and that which is rendered in painstaking detail.
Rohrer’s obsessive freehand rendering, seemingly photographic but hand painted from life and self-taken photographs, allude to the works of Jan van Eyck, Vermeer, and other old masters whose technique challenge our credulity. The compositions of each painting also hint at more contemporary artists such as Thomas Demand and Jeff Wall, whose photographic re-enactments are realistic but disturbing in their “slightly off” feeling. Pop artists are also brought to mind in relation to Rohrer’s depiction of mundane and branded objects; stacks of books, toys, shelves of spices, craft boxes, cabinet doors and potted plants. Rohrer weaves through art history while accomplishing her seemingly humble biographical project.
Rohrer has had solo exhibitions in New York at P.P.O.W. …
For over a decade, painter Jessica Rohrer has depicted the homes and neighborhoods in which she has lived–from Wisconsin to Brooklyn to New Jersey. Rohrer’s stylistic approach combines elements of traditional miniature paintings with photorealism. Carefully manipulating each scene by emptying them of figures and detritus, she creates a sense of sanitized orderliness. Odd perspectives and tight cropping add to the anxious and ominous tone. Her precisely staged and meticulously painted vignettes balance that which is omitted and that which is rendered in painstaking detail.
Rohrer’s obsessive freehand rendering, seemingly photographic but hand painted from life and self-taken photographs, allude to the works of Jan van Eyck, Vermeer, and other old masters whose technique challenge our credulity. The compositions of each painting also hint at more contemporary artists such as Thomas Demand and Jeff Wall, whose photographic re-enactments are realistic but disturbing in their “slightly off” feeling. Pop artists are also brought to mind in relation to Rohrer’s depiction of mundane and branded objects; stacks of books, toys, shelves of spices, craft boxes, cabinet doors and potted plants. Rohrer weaves through art history while accomplishing her seemingly humble biographical project.
Rohrer has had solo exhibitions in New York at P.P.O.W. and ARENA. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at venues such as Artists Space in New York, Canzani Center Gallery at Columbus College of Art & Design, and Schmidt Center Gallery at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
Courtesy of P.P.O.W.
