JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY is proud to present Merged, the latest series of hand-cut road map sculptures by artist NIKKI ROSATO. The exhibition will be on view in the centre gallery from 4 November through 26 December 2015 with receptions on Saturday, 7 November and 5 December from 6-9pm. For her second solo exhibition at the gallery, Rosato will be exhibiting her life-sized, figurative works created in her unique style using maps. On the heels of a very successful showing of the series at VOLTA NY during Armory Week 2015, Rosato continues the exploration of her process addressing form and figure in this suite.
The artist says of her work and this series . . .
The visual aspects of a road map are remarkably human. A map is a symbol of a living, breathing, moving body—the land is just as alive as we are. A map’s lines carve the pathways for the rhythms and movements that undulate across the surface of the earth.
As we move though life, the places we inhabit and the people that we meet alter and shape us into the person that we are in the present day. I am interested in the idea that a place I visited as a child has affected the outcome of the person that I am today.
In the Merged series I’m exploring the duality of human existence and experience. Humans are multifaceted and are constantly affected by pathways traveled. Within one body lies experience in both positivity and negativity – interconnected forces that we continually confront in order to achieve balance. As we strive to become the best version of ourselves, we seek a sense of symmetry; however, the symmetry in this work is handcrafted and therefore an impossible attempt at perfection.
Nikki Rosato earned her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2013 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art and Art History from the University of Pittsburgh. Rosato’s work has received multiple awards, including the 2014 Blanche E. Coleman award and the 2008 A.J. Schneider Award. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, The Harvard Review, Canadian Geographic, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review and Hi-Fructose New Magazine.
Her work has been exhibited (inter)nationally, and is currently featured in the exhibition If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home at the Children’s Museum of Art in New York City. The forthcoming exhibition Demarcate at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art will also be including her three dimensional, self-portrait bust. In 2013, Rosato’s work was featured in Mark of the Feminine at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, as well as, Lovin’ it, Symbol and Contradiction at the Bromer Art Collection in Roggwil-Kaltenherberg, Switzerland and Mapping the Way at Walford Mill Crafts in London. Her work has also been exposed at numerous art fairs including VOLTA 10 in Basel, Switzerland, Miami Project for Art Basel Miami Beach, Seattle Art Fair, Art Market San Francisco and Texas Contemporary.