Rosario Bond: The Way We See Things

By Jill Thayer

The interplay of power, seduction, and emotion incites a reflexive dialog in “The Way We See Things,” a solo show by Miami-based artist Rosario Bond. The exhibition features canvases from her recent body of work, The White Mischief Series that places the object as a visual element.

John Berger writes, “Yet, when an image is presented as a work of art, the way people look at it is affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions about art. Assumptions concerning:

Beauty

Truth

Genius

Civilization

Form

Status

Taste, etc.” 1

An artist, architect, a designer, Bond draws upon her innate aesthetic to explore the subconscious to reveal complexities of the human condition, the feminine psyche, and pure expression through imagination, self-awareness, and color.

Rosario Bond at her studio in Miami’s Wynwood Art District. Photos: Leo Di Tomaso. Courtesy of the artist.

Bond works quickly, yet meticulously in a process that is complex and irrepressible. Acrylic is her medium for its immediacy, vibrancy, and minimal drying time. Her approach is random and controlled, articulate, and in the moment with a palette that varies with each piece. Luminescent pigments of dayglo green, orange, and fuchsia are juxtaposed to hues of flamingo pink, lemon yellow, cerulean blue, and soft lavender in multi-layers of intrigue painted on large white canvases.

Rosario Bond, Light Matter, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 90” x 90.”

Drips, scrawls, and intricate patterns dance upon the canvas in graffiti-like verve, as Bond’s approach echoes the exaggerated harmonies of Matisse and the Fauves, the gestural abstractions of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, the primitive bravura of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and the action portraits of Georg Baselitz. Her compositional elements are reminiscent to Wassily Kandinsky’s lyrical abstractions. Vibrant shapes and subtle tints beckon the viewer, as Bond deftly captures the feeling of exuberance in her observations and expressions of each intuitive experience. Blandishments of color are used to express emotion, subjectivity, and stance.

Cy Twombly noted that each line he made was “the actual experience… It is the sensation of its own realization.” And, much like Henri Matisse, who expressed in his works what he envisioned in his mind, Bond’s methodology is the extension of her imagination. As the Neo-Expressionists, her imagery flirts with the perception of art and the decorative appeal in a commodity-driven culture. Bond herself considers these issues in her existential experiences. And as an artist, she is concerned with the art market today, its coterie of players, and economic fluctuations.

Rosario Bond, Red Velvet, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60.”

Rosario Bond’s work explores the relationship of women in society and critical issues regarding socio-historical stereotypes in the milieu of contemporary culture. Previous works satirically investigate women’s fantasies and observations of beauty and youth, women as objects, and their role as equal in a male dominated society. Bond explores these narratives including those of sexuality, status, and power, as the demands on women are informed by the cultural capital of society. The undercurrents of Bond’s motifs are powerful primers that emerge from her dreams, visions, and realizations of the artistic experience.

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Blue Diamond (2015), is simple, pure, and concise with contrasting strokes and smears in Ultramarine blue, persimmon, greys, and a hint of gold. Vertical blue lines connect black scribbles set against the stark white canvas.

Rosario Bond, Blue Diamond, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60.”

Light Matter (2015), presents a cavalcade of shapes and colors in a split complimentary palette of green, red, red orange, and red violet intensified by ramblings of pinks, yellows, and pastel washes. The technique is light and subtractive, with edited markings in various degrees of saturation.

Red Velvet (2015), as in Blue Diamond, displays a purity of color applied directly from the tube. The sumptuous effect is bold, chaotic, and sensual. Soft and fluid lines allude to contours of the body, as unbridled passion succumbs to raw emotion. Lush pinks and reds balance a smattering of orange and green with larger objects in grey, blue, and yellow dominated by bold strokes of black. The result is serendipitous in this surrealistic dreamscape of a torrid, yet intimate encounter.

Silver Lining (2015) shares an inner-connectivity of images that are controlled and straightforward. Whimsical black lines define random shapes of pink, neon green, orange, and violet blue in an effort to mediate the grey background [cloud] to a joyful resolve.

In Staccato (2015), Bond creates a sense of urgency through prominent shapes in crimson and gold that seem to taunt and engage in a tempestuous fling. A flurry of black lines with green and grey markings whirl around elements on the canvas’ white surface, as a neon orange colored form sits atop drippings of lines in quiet observance from the lower corner of the piece. The artist’s focus is on simple line not color, using a lighter touch in her brisk application.

Rosario Bond, Silver Lining, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 74” x 108.”

Another piece from the series, Behind the Scene (2015), is featured in Aqua Art Miami, December 2-6, 2015. The work is a compilation of movement and pattern with stark lines and textures. Broad strokes of blue and orange intermingle with viscous black drippings that are smudged and reinterpreted in opaque and translucent layers. The linear drips gently support black and white forms that resemble leopard print fabric swatches. Brushstrokes in pink, blue-violet, tan, green, and orange frame the scenario with gold and neon yellow-green clovers amidst vivid hues and neutrals.

Bond writes, “My purpose is to create relational tensions between gesture, action, and color through seductive and sensual compositions. Curvilinear outlines intercross with colorful stains suggesting imaginary fluids, water currents, dripping into one another in dazzling contours.”

Rosario Bond, Staccato, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60.”

“The Way We See Things,” presents selected works from a series that superbly reveal Rosario Bond’s dreamscapes and self-reflections, as her non-objective abstractions triumphantly emerge in uninhibited splendor.

“The Way We See Things,” curated by Milagros Bello, Ph.D. was on view from October 10 to November 14, 2015. Curator’s Voice Art Projects Gallery is located at 299 NW 25^th Street, Wynwood Art District, Miami, FL 33127. For more information about Rosario Bond’s work visit, www.rosariobond.com.

Notes

1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. Print.

Jill Thayer, Ph.D. is an artist, educator, and curatorial archivist. She is faculty at Santa Monica College in Art History: Global Visual Culture, and The Malcolm Baldrige School of Business at Post University, MBA program in Integrative Strategies. Her oral history narratives of contemporary artists are included in Archives of American Art at The Smithsonian Institution.