council st galleryKent Young
There is nothing inevitable about this work. Questions guide the practice. Every mark (every thought and move) negotiates for its place, questions whether it is functioning as needed, or if it is even necessary. Rodney’s paintings tell this story slowly because that is how the story needs to be told. Rodney’s paintings are not tentative, they are speculative. The result is that the work produces a space that speculates on the codes and discourse of painting. Rodney’s practice is self-assured, and yes, it’s also slippery, and it doesn’t seek approval. That’s experience; that’s dedication; that’s wisdom.
Rodney Harder’s Visionary AbstractionsCharles Gaines
Rodney Harder paints abstract paintings. It has been his passion since a young person. It comes from a long-standing interest in the materiality of paint and the spatial properties of color. The challenge of abstraction is to invent a personal or subjective formal language, which usually means finding a way to problematize space, to create or uncover relations and differences in such a way that one finds oneself in a process of search and discovery. Some do this by inventing a formal visual language. Others do this by treating form as a way to reveal or interrogate the artist’s subjectivity, finding formal patterns produced by invisible mental and sensible forces mostly by seeing abstraction as a way of uncovering one’s feelings or even expressions of those feelings.Rodney Harder represents the latter. He approaches each work as if he is searching for something, waiting for it to be revealed, actually working for it until it is revealed. Rodney is more invested in color and materiality than form itself, perhaps because he is attracted to the sensible quality that materiality possesses. It is, on one level, a metaphor for sense experience. The texture and viscosity of paint is something that is viscerally experienced and he responds to it as if it has a direct connection to his subjectivity. Color allows these feelings and sensations to exist in space. The two together are used to locate or identify something familiar even if unseen.
The psychological component in Rodney Harder’s work takes him beyond the formalism of the traditions in European abstraction and even Euro-American expressionism. He has been painting for more than 40 years and has developed a long history of paintings that are interrogating; experimentations that resemble psychological explorations of materials. This exhibition allows us to observe the special way that Rodney Harder uses color, texture and materiality to reveal the hidden landscape of the human mind.
About my work Rodney Harder
My paintings tend to evolve over long periods of time. The materials themselves often arrive already having some history: discarded house paint and canvases; found panels; badly worn brushes. Each painting requires a new solution--perhaps a new structure, a new pallet, a new approach. Previous marks or build up of paint may direct new actions while intentions may change and be altered mid stream. I often feel as if I am standing just off center where everything is up for grabs. The space for deliberation narrows and demands. I prefer art when it appears to be informed, passionate, and personal.
I want my work to be beautiful, surprising, and challenging. I want it to seduce the viewer to exploring the shapes, colors, movement and surfaces. I hope to make the viewer question what the work is really about, to feel something difficult to put into words.
[foot note]
In 1987 I traveled to Haiti where I was introduced to self taught or visionary art. I later visited Southern Self Taught artist recognize by their communities and for some by the art world. I particularly appreciate the authenticity and devotion in this work. Their reasons for making art ranged from religious convictions, paranoia and fear, the passing of time (keeping rigorous track of time), boredom, and recording things as a journal, a way of maintaining contact with reality. To preach your truth, to appreciate what surrounds you; to represent what is in your mind. Driven by these concerns, the artist often found their own idiosyncratic subject or idea or style which they then explore for a lifetime. (Henry Darger, Sibel Gibson, James Castle, Martin Ramirez, Sam Doyle).
Art Vitae
Rodney Harder is a visual artist and curator. Recently a one person show of his paintings curated by Artist Charles Gaines was at council st gallery in Los Angeles, CA. His work has been shown at the Berkeley Art Museum, The Fresno Art Museum. International exhibitions including Palazzo Montefano, Bologna Italy, and Carlton Place Gallery, Glasgow, and Gallerie Les Biles du Calvaire, Brussels, Belgium. His many grants include the Milton and Sally Avery Residency at Yaddo art Colony, NY, a NY Foundation for the Arts, and a $20,000 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Painting.
His curated exhibitions include ‘Fresh Flowers’ at the Sherman Gallery, Boston University, ‘The Addicott Collection’ at the Fresno Arts Museum, ‘Creativity Explored 40th Anniversary’ at L K Gallery in Livingston Manor, NY. He now lives between New York City, NY, and Santa Cruz, CA.