JENNIFER ROCHLIN

Through figurative elements painted and carved on terracotta vessels, the artist unfolds a narrative landscape throughout the exhibition. Moments and characters from her daily life intertwine with the surrounding natural world, particularly the foothills of Altadena, California. These hills and the nature surrounding Los Angeles, where she lives, serve as both a source of solace and inspiration as well as unease.

Titled Suns and Lovers, the exhibition takes its name from D.H. Lawrence’s classic novel Sons and Lovers, a distant literary reference whose words and images resonate subtly with the artist’s present life. Though removed from the novel, echoes of its themes persist in the work, particularly in the tension between an inner world shaped by tenderness and an outer world marked by distress and imbalance. Most significantly, and above all, Rochlin’s work invites interpretation as a story unfolding in space, vessel after vessel, occasionally extending into the two-dimensional realm of paintings on canvas.

In the gallery’s main space, small and medium pots are found scattered on top of plinths that are placed in a maze, inviting the viewer to wander around. A few works highlight representations of flowers and animals, all of which the artist encounters during hikes in the foothills of Altadena, offering a glimpse into her daily reprieves from the chaos of the every day. Interspersed among these are three medium-sized pots, each marking a poignant ‘pause’ in the narrative flow—like commas or periods in a sentence.

The vessels carry personal imagery: portraits of the artist’s family, and a symbolic peacock contrasted with a depiction of mountain fires. The peacock’s hypnotic feathers, also reproduced as a wallpaper motif on one of the gallery walls, serves as a response to the anxieties of living near wildfire-prone areas, paradoxically finding in nature a creative escape to the personal unease created by its destruction.

Upstairs, the focus shifts to three large pink ceramic pieces. In these more monumental works, we find stories enclosed inside tapestry borders: a piece entitled French Kiss (2024), pays homage to some of the artist’s favourite French artworks depicting intimacy, including works by Picasso (The Kiss, 1969), Henri de Toulousse Lautrec (In Bed, The Kiss, 1892), and August Rodin (The Kiss, 1880-1898). Accompanying these ceramics are three paintings, including a work that bridges the past and present by referencing the artist’s earlier work If I had gone to Chicago... (2024), a large terra cotta vessel in which the artist imagined herself strolling through the city. Between reality and fantasy, Rochlin’s work unfolds in two- and three-dimensional space, offering us tender, sensual images grounded in reality.

The spontaneity emerging in these works, where the human touch is evident in the imperfections of the ceramic forms, contrasts with the precision and technical skill required to create what are paintings on the challenging medium of fired clay. Whether on canvas or clay, it is within this delicate balance between the organic and the controlled that Rochlin’s work achieves its lasting impact, engaging with the world around her through a lens of humanity and trepidation.

Suns and Lovers marks Jennifer Rochlin’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and it will be on view from December 12, 2024 and until January 18, 2025.