Steve Roden
American, 1984-

which is still. visible. (the orange is mine), 2013
oil on canvas stretched on aluminum
48 x 36 x 2 in.

SBMA, Museum Purchase
2013.43



Detail of photo by Leslie Williamson

"My working process generally includes the translation of various forms of specific notation (words, musical scores, maps, etc.) into scores, which influence the process of making/composing a painting, drawing, and sculpture or sound composition. The scores, rigid in terms of their structure, are also full of holes – allowing for intuitive actions, mistakes and potential left turns. Other than its relationship to an inspirational source, I seldom know how an artwork will speak until it is finished." - Steve Roden

COMMENTS

"which is still. visible. (the orange is mine)" is one of several large paintings in the artist’s recent series exhibited at Susanne Vielmetter Gallery (and simultaneously at CRG Gallery, September 12 – October 19, 2013) titled "Rag-picker". The series rises from Roden’s research in the Walter Benjamin archive at the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin during a 2011 residency. The title derives from Charles Baudelaire’s urban types, of which “rag-picker” — defined as someone who rummages through the streets collecting materials for salvage — was one of Benjamin’s favorites. Adopting a similar method by going through Benjamin’s notebooks, Roden “repurposed” notations and glyphs to create scores that influence his process in multiple bodies of work. Roden has been called a “polymath”—committed just as much to his sound work as to his work as a visual artist. These areas of his practice are combined in various ways, including a process by which musical scores often inspire systems of color, shape, marks and movement in his paintings. While the emphasis is on the process, the results are often quirky and idiosyncratic, appearing intuitive rather than systematic.

Steve Roden lives and works in Pasadena, CA. He received his MFA at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and his BFA at Otis/Parsons in Los Angeles. His work was the focus of a mid-career survey at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena (2012). Other solo and two person exhibitions include "Jenny Perlin and Steve Roden" at the Cleveland Institute of Art (2013); "steve roden: day ring, night ring" at the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2006); "seamarks" at the Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute (2005); "stills (for guru dutt)" at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College (2004); some "reconstructions of wandering & inner space" at Santa Barbara Conemporary Arts Forum (2002); and others. His work is in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin; Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and others.

- SBMA Collections Committee Agenda, October 15, 2013