McCaig-Welles is pleased to curate and present "The Walls Between Us", a solo exhibition by Kathryn Rose opening on Friday, May 10th from 7-10pm at Lazy Susan Gallery in New York City.
"The Walls Between Us," is a solo exhibition of miniature oil paintings by artist Kathryn Rose.
The subjects of "The Walls Between Us" are the social walls in which have been slowly constructed between us over time. Kathryn Rose touches on these topics, these walls that divide us--- specifically those of gender, race and nationality.
The multitudinous formation of roses intricately painted throughout this series is the main theme of "The Walls Between Us". The artists uses roses as symbols representing women who are often similarly described as delicate and fragile. She paints this series as miniatures to depict smallness, and of being perceived as small or insignificant. In "The Walls Between Us" Kathryn Rose explores various methods in which to break these walls down and discard these beliefs and social structures.
Ladders are painted in a similar fashion as the roses, in abundance, in formation, yet they are often seen only under a magnifying glass. Perched on these ladders are tiny men all of which surround the female figure. These men are clutching small tools, chisels and mallets, ever so delicately breaking away at the invisible but ever-present walls that divide them.
Trained as a traditional oil painter, Kathryn Rose paints photorealistic portraits with a whimsical twist. Throughout all of her pieces scale is used as a way to stretch the limits of imagination and to put emphasis on certain ideas or themes. The often barely visible things in her works are where the stories and commentary are hidden. She paints with the smallest brushes available, while wearing jeweler's glasses. Each painting displays a central figure that acts as a theatre for tiny painted people to perform stories.