ARDEN + WHITE presents Between Floor and Ceiling, a two-person show with paintings by Marcel Rozek and designs by Nina Cho. Between Floor and Ceiling demonstrates the philosophy of art and functional design in one space illustrating a familiar depiction of how we dwell.
The pairing of these artists and their work resembles the relationship found between the Washington Color School artists and midcentury design between the 50s and 60s where both the aesthetic and cultural context were in harmony. Rozek explores the possibilities of color and abstraction, often using large areas of color to create immersive environments, while Cho focuses on function and form with subtle ingenuity over ornamentation.
Rozek (b. 1992), is a Los Angeles-based artist who employs a staining technique comprised of multilayered compositions with a technique popularized by the early abstractionists and artists of the Washington Color School. He follows in the footsteps of these greats of the art world, Morris Louis chief among them, while also going beyond the achievements of color field painters before him in terms of process.
Rozek’s adroit use of diluted oil on unprimed canvas results in large-scale, stain paintings that are unrestrained and yet decidedly refined. The artist establishes a visual logic that is measured in his use of layered, harmonious hues of color that flood and seep across their coarse backdrops. Rozek strips down abstract expressionism to its elemental origins with overlapping shapes and runny bands of paint. The resulting shapes alter between opaque impenetrability and inviting warmth.
Rozek’s rivaling shades and tones of color create amorphous, ghostly shapes that merge in and stack upon one another in a hypnotic symphony that changes our perception and viewing experience with time.
“I try to translate depth and intuition to the viewer in the hopes we can have a conversation and a connection” - Rozek
Nina Cho (b. 1989) is an artist and designer based in Detroit. She was born in San Francisco and raised in Seoul, South Korea, where she attended Hong-Ik University studying Woodworking and Furniture Design. She then moved to Michigan to attend Cranbrook Academy of Art, and holds an MFA in 3D Design.
“It is modest but not humble, and impressive but not extravagant.” -Translation of a Korean adage
Between Ceiling and Floor opens on May 5th with an artist reception, and will run to June 25th.
