Erika Rothenberg
American, 1950-

Message of Freedom, n.d.
gouache on paper

SBMA, In memory of Gail Berkus
2003.124.9

COMMENTS

The beginning of Erika Rothenberg's artistic career coincided roughly with the increased visibility in New York in the early 1980's of art dealing with social and political themes. After a generation dominated by cool, abstract art, some artists chose to move onto a more direct activist course, exhibiting their works in thematic group shows and public projects organized by such groups as Collaborative Projects Inc. and Group Material.

Rothenberg, who participated in several of these group projects, shared a desire to "democratize" the presentation of art. She said that in order to make powerful and transformative art, one had to "make work about the world,, but because art hasn't been about life--it's been about art--it's lost that power to touch people, to make people think., to question their assumptions." The desire to place art in the context of conteemporary life, making it accessible to audiences other than gallery visitors, inspired Rothennberg and others to employ a wide range of formats, displaying works in artists' books, newspaper inserts, and shop windows, as well as on billboards and street posters.

Many of these artists focused on the media as a source of aesthetic vocabulary and subject matter, and at the same time as a target for criticism. For the past twenty years, Erika Rothenberg has used advertising as one of her sources of strategic thinking and manipulation, aspiring to subvert consumerist culture through an accumulation of small, discrete gestures.

- From the University of Notre Dame website, transcribed by Ricki Morse