R & Company is thrilled to announce the gallery’s first solo exhibition of work by Rogan Gregory. This is the artist’s largest exhibition to date and unveils an exceptional body of work decades in the making, inspired by animal and mineral origin stories and by Gregory’s fascination with physiological and emotional responses to design. The artist will be present for the opening reception from 6-8 pm on May 2, 2016.
Gregory’s work is driven by the interplay between his tightly controlled personal aesthetic — an innate style further developed in his career as a designer and consultant for luxury fashion brands — and his fascination with raw, natural patterns, processes and color. The forms and muted palette of Gregory’s objects, reveal the graceful lines and many layers of each object. Gregory eloquently captures the tension between the desire to sculpt material in an elegant yet meditative way while also recognizing the power of being emotionally moved by nature’s raw, untouched beauty.
The objects in the exhibition range in scale from a pocket-sized bronze suggestion of a bird, to life size functionally sculptural pieces in carved wood. There will also be a new collection of hand-sculpted bronze shapes that explore prehistoric and modern day animal and oceanic forms. Gregory will introduce, in this exhibition, a collection of unique table lamps in raw stone with hand-sculpted, carved facades inspired by Pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon in which the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists.
Gallery principal Evan Snyderman worked with Gregory on the installation design, which is inspired by the lighting and presentation used in natural history museums. Snyderman was initially drawn to the personal scale of Gregory’s work, having been gifted a small silver bird by the designer that, he says, “sits on my desk where I pick it up and hold it in my hand at least once every day.” About the exhibition and the larger scale objects Snyderman comments, “The forms seem naturally occurring or allude to an animal part, bone or artifact from millennia ago, yet there is a sense of today, of mystery and of elegance that is clearly purposeful and powerful.”
Rogan Gregory will be on view from May 2 through June 23, 2016.