Terry Rodgers
Encyclopedia
Terry Rodgers is an American
figurative
painter
known for his large scale canvases that focus on portraying contemporary body politics. He was born in Newark, New Jersey
and raised in Washington, D.C.
, He graduated cum laude from Amherst College
in Massachusetts in 1969, with a major in Fine Arts. His strong interest in film and photography influenced his style in the direction of representational realism
in art.
In 2005, three of his monumental figurative canvases were presented at the Valencia Biennial. Abroad he has had solo exhibitions in galleries in Brussels
, Amsterdam
, Zurich
and Milan
, and participated in group shows around the world. In the United States, he has had solo gallery exhibitions in New York
, Los Angeles
, Atlanta, and Chicago
.
He has also exhibited at numerous museums in the US including the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
, the Erie Art Museum
and the Mobile Museum of Art
. Abroad, his work has been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum - 's-Hertogenbosch
, the Kunsthalle
der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich, the Museum Franz Gertsch in Burgdorf, the Museum Folkwang
in Essen, the Gemeentemuseum Helmond, the Scheringa Museum of Realist Art in Spanbroek, the Kunsthal Rotterdam
, the Kunsthalle Emden, the Kunsthalle Krems, the Galerie Rudolfinum
and the Zentrum Paul Klee
in Bern.
hollow glamour seekers and the bourgeois ennui mined by Eric Fischl
and David Salle
...
Cutting edge art ... and the figurative is again avant-garde in the paintings by Terry Rodgers... The viewer is at the same time a voyeur and a guest at the party, but an existential calm reigns in the paintings. Rodgers is a master of composition. His strange parties are, despite all their photographic qualities, put together like a painting by Rubens.
...There is also a troubled insouciance in his characters despite the appearance of living out a seeming fantasy – the clothes, the looks and lounging in the midst of a quasi-orgy fest – there is something fragile and complex about his characters...
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
figurative
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
known for his large scale canvases that focus on portraying contemporary body politics. He was born in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
and raised in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, He graduated cum laude from Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
in Massachusetts in 1969, with a major in Fine Arts. His strong interest in film and photography influenced his style in the direction of representational realism
Realism (visual arts)
Realism in the visual arts is a style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see. The term is used in different senses in art history; it may mean the same as illusionism, the representation of subjects with visual mimesis or verisimilitude, or may mean an emphasis on the actuality of...
in art.
In 2005, three of his monumental figurative canvases were presented at the Valencia Biennial. Abroad he has had solo exhibitions in galleries in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and participated in group shows around the world. In the United States, he has had solo gallery exhibitions in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Atlanta, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
He has also exhibited at numerous museums in the US including the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, also known as MOCA Jacksonville, is a contemporary art museum in Jacksonville, Florida, funded and operated as a "cultural resource" of the University of North Florida...
, the Erie Art Museum
Erie Art Museum
Erie Art Museum is an art museum in Erie, Pennsylvania with a collection of over 7,000 objects, including American ceramics, Tibetan paintings, Indian bronzes, contemporary baskets, and many other categories...
and the Mobile Museum of Art
Mobile Museum of Art
The Mobile Museum of Art is an art museum located in Mobile, Alabama. It features extensive art collections from the Southern United States, the Americas, Europe, and non-western art...
. Abroad, his work has been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum - 's-Hertogenbosch
Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch
The Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch is a museum for modern art in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. It focusses on contemporary visual arts and design, and is specialised in ceramics and jewelry. The museum is a member of the International Council of Museums and the Dutch Museum Organisation...
, the Kunsthalle
Kunsthalle
Kunsthalle is, generally, in German speaking regions a term for a facility mounting temporary art exhibitions. Some are run or supported by a local Kunstverein, an art association of local collectors and artists...
der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich, the Museum Franz Gertsch in Burgdorf, the Museum Folkwang
Museum Folkwang
Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th and 20th century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen, founded in 1901.The term...
in Essen, the Gemeentemuseum Helmond, the Scheringa Museum of Realist Art in Spanbroek, the Kunsthal Rotterdam
Kunsthal
The Kunsthal is a museum in Rotterdam, which opened its doors in 1992. The museum is situated in the Museumpark of Rotterdam next to the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, and in the vicinity of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Entrance to the Kunsthal is from the Westzeedijk...
, the Kunsthalle Emden, the Kunsthalle Krems, the Galerie Rudolfinum
Galerie Rudolfinum
thumb|Annelies Štrba - Rudolfinumthumb|Uncertain States of Americathumb|Entrance to the galleryThe Galerie Rudolfinum started its activities on January 1, 1994 and is a state non-profit institution directed and financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and has its seat in the...
and the Zentrum Paul Klee
Zentrum Paul Klee
The Zentrum Paul Klee is a museum dedicated to the artist Paul Klee, located in Bern, Switzerland and designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. It features about 40 percent of Paul Klee’s entire pictorial oeuvre....
in Bern.
Critical response
...Terry Rodgers is a realist known for his contemporary character studies. While his earlier paintings often contemplated personal and family relationships in brightly lit outdoor settings wrought with pale, intense, high-keyed colors, his recent paintings conjure up a vision of the private nightlife of America’s privileged youth. Widely exhibited in the U.S. and Europe and noted for their subtle social commentary ...Rodgers’ complex compositions emphasize the detachment of his characters: the eye can trace the angles and curves of their intersecting bodies on the painting’s surface, but their gazes almost all diverge from each other. They seem to share the disappointment of F. Scott Fitzgerald’sF. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
hollow glamour seekers and the bourgeois ennui mined by Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker.-Early life:Fischl was born in New York City and grew up on suburban Long Island; his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1967...
and David Salle
David Salle
David Salle is an American painter who helped define postmodern sensibility by combining figuration with a varied pictorial language of multi-imagery...
...
Cutting edge art ... and the figurative is again avant-garde in the paintings by Terry Rodgers... The viewer is at the same time a voyeur and a guest at the party, but an existential calm reigns in the paintings. Rodgers is a master of composition. His strange parties are, despite all their photographic qualities, put together like a painting by Rubens.
...There is also a troubled insouciance in his characters despite the appearance of living out a seeming fantasy – the clothes, the looks and lounging in the midst of a quasi-orgy fest – there is something fragile and complex about his characters...
Further reading
- George Kinghorn, Skin: Contemporary Views of the Body, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, 2003. ISBN 0-9740580-0-9
- Julia Haussmann, zuruck zur figur, malerei der gegenwart (back to the figure, painting of the present), Prestel Verlag Kunstahalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung and die Autoren, 2006-2007. ISBN 3-7913-6079-5
- Alina Reyes & Catherine Somzé, —The Apotheosis of Pleasure—Terry Rodgers, TORCH Books, 2006. ISBN 978-90-73920-23-1 | ISBN 90-73920-23-X
- Howard Tullman & Paul William Richelson, Ph.D., Creative Imaginings: The Howard A. and Judith Tullman Collection, The Mobile Museum of Art, 2006. ISBN 1-893174-09-3
- Luigi Settembrini, 3rd Bienal de Valencia: Agua sin ti no soy (Water without you I'm not), 2005. ISBN 84-482-4134-7 | ISBN 88-8158-570-7
- Jim Zimmerman, Vectors of Desire: Terry Rodgers' Vision of the American Millennial Moment, iUniverse/Standing Watch Productions, 2004. ISBN 0-595-32884-9
- Dr. Eva Karcher, "Terry Rodgers—Dimensions of Ambiguity", TORCH Books, 2009. ISBN 978-90-73920-262
- Margi Geerlinks, Adriaan van der Have, "The Unforgettable Fire 25 Years Torch Gallery", Art Unlimited, 2009. ISBN 978-90-8699-059-8
- Jeannette Dekeukeleire, Harry Ruhe, "Hidden Delights—Lingerie in the Arts", Art Kitchen Galerie, Galerie A. Johannes Verhulststraat, 2009. ISBN 978-90-812458-2-1