Hodges Taylor is pleased to present, To Open Eyes, a solo exhibition by San Francisco-based artist Leah Rosenberg, who returns to Charlotte after her recent McColl Center for Art + Innovation residency (2017). A survey of drawings, sculptures, and prints made while in residence in Italy over the summer offers a refreshing commentary on recording through color and repetitive mark-making.

A devoted “color collector”, Rosenberg’s use of the medium creates a dialogue between viewer and artist, time and place. While many of Rosenberg’s prior projects involve public engagement or site-specific installation, the work presented in this exhibition stems from the artist’s instinct to return to a solitary studio practice, influenced by color theorist, teacher, and artist, Josef Albers (1888-1976). The exhibition title references Albers’ fundamental lesson: to teach his students to see beyond; to see what is overlooked; and to open their eyes in order to see the things we encounter in our everyday environment with new significance.

Through a residency this past summer in Tuscany, Rosenberg set out to create a practice predicated on ritual and discipline. By following a predetermined plan, the works on paper and cultural objects presented speak to the process of making as a way to stop, and start to see from a different perspective. Together, they form a record of the artist’s self-directed process, like journal entries, on her meditative journey. Rosenberg, like the ever-influential Albers, encourages us to slow down, unplug, open up, and trust the process more than the end result.

Exhibition catalog: LEAH ROSENBERG: TO OPEN EYES