CLARE ROJAS

Over the past two decades, Clare Rojas has developed a deeply personal visual language that is equally rooted in mythology, ecofeminism, as well as the legacy of abstraction. Moving freely from dense, fantastical landscapes to minimal compositions, Rojas’ own experiences are often the starting points of her paintings, connecting these to nearly fantastical depictions of the environments in which she works. United by a lyrical sensitivity, Rojas’ paintings function akin to musical arrangements, formal decisions, symbolic interjections, and color function in tandem to build emotional resonance. In turn, the personal is made universal, as Rojas depicts the complexity of life’s cycles, particularly as experienced by women, from joy to disappointment, sickness and health, as well as entrapment and freedom.

Developed in parallel to the artist’s own relocation from Northern California to her home state of Ohio, the paintings in Pilgrimage work to record and explore the process of finding, and returning home. Here, Rojas’ delicately layered geometric forms are newly animated as characters, playing on our innate desire to assign narrative to even abstract images. Presented isolated within fields of negative space, they are joined by animals adopting human behaviors, and figures that appear to meld into the horizon, which are collectively cast as witnesses to a central story that unfolds throughout the exhibition. For Rojas, the act of witnessing takes both literal, and metaphorical implications, reflecting the communities built around transition. Adopting a recurring red-sailboat as her self portrait, Rojas charters its journey across open water, turbulent weather, and behind closed doors, as prismatic colors reflect her own shifting emotional states. While the witnesses are an integral part to the story, as the sailboat moves towards the horizon, it becomes clear that redefining one’s home is ultimately a journey one has to conclude on their own.

During the exhibition’s opening on Friday, November 7th, Clare Rojas will perform original music from 7 - 8 pm, accompanied by Eric Perney, Joel Pickard, and Rob Smith. While music has long been intertwined with her artistic practice, creating three albums under the stage name “Peggy Honeywell,” this performance marks the first time Rojas will perform live under her own name.

In 2024, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, presented a major survey of Clare Rojas’ work titled Past the Present. Her work is held in the permanent collections of MoMA, New York, SFMOMA, San Francisco, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA, San Jose Museum of Art,CA;Berkeley Art Museum, CA; Smart Museum, University of Chicago; Columbus Museum of Art, Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain. She has been awarded grants and residencies from Artadia, Eureka Fellowship, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Previous solo exhibitions of Rojas’ work have been presented at venues including the MCA Chicago; IKON Gallery, England; Museum Het Domein, Netherlands; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA; Savannah College of Art and Design, GA; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS; Knoxville Museum of Art, TN; Belkin Satellite, Vancouver; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco. She received a BFA in printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in painting from School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Courtesy Andrew Kreps