November 7th – December 28th
Opening: Friday November 7th, 7-9

The paintings in Emily Roz’s exhibition “Ripe” will surely make you blush. Referencing seedpods of a specific Southern Magnolia tree from the artist’s youth in Chapel Hill, these lush, tactile paintings exude the sexuality of the reproduction system of the Magnolia grandiflora. The large, cone-like forms of the Magnolia fruit are made from multiple ovaries, which bear vivid red seeds, that hang from the individual follicles by long silken threads. Roz’s depiction of these intimate parts of the pods is done at a larger scale, which arouses one’s desire for closer inspection.

Emily Roz exaggerates the visceral and sensual qualities
 of the pods through the use of saturated colors and the 
drama of baroque light. Roz enhances the shallow visual 
depth with the macro-texture of each form. She captures 
each minute detail of the final stages of propagation as 
the hard, lustrous crimson seeds protrude and penetrate their tantalizing furry enclosures. The exacting detail of these structures is counterbalanced by her use of the flat blue negative space surrounding the pods. These seemingly infinite fields of color paired with intense detail are inspired by Roz’s love of Northern Renaissance and Flemish paintings that use color in both realistic and symbolic ways.

“These paintings are my way of flirting. They want to turn you on, in a painting kind of way. Their texture and shapes may make you blush while their color and light appeals to you on a more cerebral level. Plants and animals have evolved for their essential purpose: to procreate. In these paintings I explore how both artworks and people pull out all the stops to get attention. These paintings are reminders of the universal impulse to use whatever resources we have to attract and connect, physically, emotionally or intellectually.”
– Emily Roz

Born in 1972, Emily Roz received a BA from Hampshire College where she studied Art History, Literature and Weaving. She went on to receive an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has been reviewed in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, The Washington Post, Joy Quarterly, W+G Williamsburg News + Art, Apollo Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail and NewCity Chicago. Emily was raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and currently works in Queens, and lives in New York with her husband and son. This is her third solo show at the Front Room Gallery.