Fawn Rogers

Career

Rogers' first solo exhibition, “Jewels, Gods, and Dust," was a three-story site-specific installation displayed in Pune, India in 1993. Other works also include, “Kokoro” in Tokyo in 1995, and “Earth to Hand” in Marche, Italy in 1999.

In 2002 Rogers was co-curator of a group exhibition titled, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Seven of her paintings were featured along with works by Joseph Bueys, Roger Herman, Robert Longo, and Chris Newman; the exhibition was held at Miauhaus Studio 12 in Los Angeles. Following “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” Rogers exhibited her installation "I Like the Dark, It's Friendly" in Los Angeles.

In 2007, Rogers created Ka Di, an art exchange for education to help empower the youth of Bamako, Mali. In 2013 her artwork was selected by Dawit Yohannes of the World Bank for an ongoing corporate exhibition in Juba, South Sudan.

Rogers was commissioned for eleven original works from her “Visible Light” and “Garden Light” for First Capitol Consulting, Inc., Los Angeles in February, 2012. In 2014 Rogers' works from "Visible Light" and paintings from "I Love You And That Makes Me God," were on view at HATCh Showroom, while a version of “I Love You And That Makes Me God,” was displayed as a 50-story LED public installation on the American Eagle building in Time Square, New York. KCET commented that the installation lit up across Times Square, “taking this very intimate statement and giving a powerful public presence.”

In January 2015 two of Rogers’ original works from the "Visible Light” series entitled Assassination and the Exchange Rate went on display at the American Airlines Admirals Club collection, located inside the Miami Airport. The “Visible Light” series are images created by natural projection of electromagnetic light through purified water using a 4-foot vertical prism, then photographed with a high-powered lens. Each image represents a few millimeters of light taken from the original photographs, then enlarged up to 25 feet onto various archival substrates. The images are not color enhanced. In February four more works from the series were added to the Embraer Executive Jets private showroom.

In May 2015 Rogers debuted “Court” at NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) Art Fair and at Select Art Fair in New York City during Frieze Art Week. "Court” is a series of 53 original acrylic and graphite paintings featuring images of art collectors chosen at random from ARTnews “Top 200" list. Each collector is presented as a playing card along with two art collectors as wildcards not from the list. ARTNetNews, which chose "Court" as a must-see exhibition, reported that "two 'wildcard' collectors not featured on the list (rumored to have been recommended to Rogers by Jerry Saltz) cameo as joker cards." Huffington Post reported, "One of the original 'Court' paintings also made an appearance in a high-stakes, winner-take-all poker game," featuring other works of fine art, and that several limited edition decks of the standard-size Art Patron Playing Cards were stolen from the NADA gift shop. Prior to the installation, Peter Eleey from MoMA PS1 photographed several of the cards to share with art collectors.

"Hero"

Hero," a live stream video installation from July 31 through August 6, 2015 featured a live rat in a glass tank chewing on a pile of $20 bills, with a coalescence of digital imagery in the background. "Hero," a provocative materiality of a under-explored subject in contemporary art asked, "Why is Andrew Jackson still on 8.1 billion circulating bank notes in year 2015?" The work questioned how America creates heroes, and drew on Jackson as the force behind the Native American Removal Act and his extreme wealth accrued through slavery.

Jackson's policies of oppression towards people of color are still felt today. More than one in four Native Americans live in poverty, according to 2014 data, and Native unemployment rates are charted at double the national average. According to a Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice analysis of Centers for Disease Control data, cited by Al Jazeera, "Between 1999 and 2011 Native Americans were killed by police at a higher rate than any other racial group in the country." The installation drew on Rogers' concern for the plight of Native Americans living on reservations now and her Cherokee heritage (her great-great grandmother walked the Trail of Tears).

"Court"

"Court” is a series of 54 original acrylic and graphite paintings featuring images of art collectors chosen at random from ARTnews “Top 200" list. Each collector is presented as a playing card along with two art collectors as wildcards not from the list. ARTNet, which declared that "Court" was a "really cool, interactive thing to do" reported that "two 'wildcard' collectors not featured on the list (but rumored to have been recommended to Rogers by Jerry Saltz) also cameo as joker cards." “Court” debuted as both standard decks of playing cards and extra large playing cards sized 20”x 28” at NADA Art Fair and Select Art Fair during the 2015 Frieze Art Week in New York City. Geraldine Beigbeder, a Paris-based writer and curator commented to Creators Project, "You can remember where the money is coming from—when you go to the big fair, you can chase them with this deck of cards!" On opening night of the fair, artists, collectors, and gallerists gathered in Rogers' tent which was transformed into an exclusive VIP room for the patrons of the art world where they played a high-stakes poker game. Regarding "Court," artist Michael Zelehoski commented to VICE Magazine's Creators Project, "It's refreshing to see an immersive environment in the context of an art fair. So much of this work is like, hole in the wall, cash and carry. This tent is like stepping into another world. It's refreshing." Huffington Post reported that collector Martin C. Liu described "Court" as "very clever... better than I've seen at the fair."

"I Like the Dark, It’s Friendly"

This exhibition featured original paintings on the subject of isolation, anguish and silence. Works included “Packed with Fear” and “Silent Scream.” In these works Rogers incorporated the East Indian concept of encircling an object in red, in order to set it apart as the center of the universe. The exhibition was presented in a dark space with spotlights, in order to invite confrontation rather than a collective social experience.

"Visible Light"

"Visible Light" is a series of images created from tiny portions of natural light projected through purified water in a 4-foot vertical prism built by the artist. Rogers slices a few millimeters of the photographed image then substantially enlarges these up to 25 feet onto various archival substrates. The color of the works are not color enhanced. Rogers created site specific works from the series for the Alexandria Care Center, which houses Medicare patients, in order to provide a more uplifting and beneficial environment for the elderly patients and to “inspire awareness and volunteer action on behalf of the elderly and terminally ill demographic who have little to no voice...help to promote a more egalitarian understanding of what art is really for."

"I Love You And That Makes Me God"

"I Love You And That Makes Me God" is video art exploring the themes of convictions, power, and intimacy. Participants—including celebrities, homeless individuals, academics, convicted criminals and victims of crimes, humanitarians, inventors, athletes, and a Native American tribal chief—were filmed as they each stated the expression, “I love you and that makes me god.” During filming, Rogers engaged with the subjects exploring public and private dialogue while encountering concepts of belief and the unconscious frequency with which it surfaces, portions of which appear in a separate interactive portion. In 2014 Rogers presented a text version of “I Love You And That Makes Me God” on a 50-story LED light installation in Times Square using the facade of the American Eagle Building. KCET reported the words lit up Time Square, “taking this very intimate statement and giving a powerful public presence.”

Selected exhibitions and works

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