Derosia
Artists Exhibitions Publications About
Derosia
Artists Exhibitions Publications About

Em Rooney

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Em Rooney

b. 1983

Lives and works between Canaan, CT and New York, NY

 

 

Em Rooney’s multimedia practice is anchored in a study of film, photography, and the material indices of these seemingly ephemeral, auratic genres. In the artist’s earlier work, analog methods of photography were paired with sculptural framing devices. Using steel brackets, leaded crystal enclosures, pewter embellishments, and other heavy, industrial materials that engage tactility and imply a substantive weight to their contents, these works reinforce the photographic image’s material presence, as pictures grow increasingly untethered from authorship and origin in the digital era. Rooney’s images focus on the experiences of women and girls, her style deliberately pedestrian yet narratively opaque, indicating everyday mystery. As Rooney’s sculptural objects have increased in scale in recent years, so have they developed a formal autonomy from photography, while maintaining a conceptual link to film: costume design, filmic ephemera, and the portrayal of women onscreen inform the artist’s structural and material techniques, many of which are improvised in her studio and original to her practice. Based on botanical forms, or, most recently, the eclosion cycle of butterflies, Rooney’s sculpture continues to allude to the dichotomy between seen and unseen, as it is uniquely experienced by women. 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

2012Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME
2011Master of Fine Arts, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2005Bachelor of Arts, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 

 

 

SELECTED SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

 

2024Imagined Beauty Begins Now, Derosia, New York, NY
2023Double Portrait, Paena, Mexico City, Mexico
2022Entrance of Butterfly, Derosia, New York, NY
2020Women in Fiction, Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA
2019You, Too, Know That You Live, Fons Welters, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2018Ordinary Time, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY
2016

The Word for Forest, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY 

Infinite Iotic, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH 

2014Night Painting, Beverly’s, New York, NY
2013Flesh and Ground, The Good Press Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
2011All Alone, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA 
2010Like Flex / Like Flex, with Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Bodega (Derosia), Philadelphia, PA

 

         

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2025Remains, Bureau, New York, NY
2023

Anything can pass before the eyes of a person, Derosia, New York, NY

Plant a Weed, curated by Francesca Altamura, Jack Barrett Gallery, New York City, NY

Silent Retreat, Dunes, Portland, ME

I ♥ NO GO HOME, Astor Weeks, New York City, NY

2022

Conflict Assembly, September, Kinderhook, NY 

New England Triennial, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA

Manual, im labor, Tokyo, Japan

Chambres d’Amis: Ikea, Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium

The White Columns Annual, organized by Mary Manning, White Columns, New York, NY

2021

Chewing Fat, organized by Nancy Lupo, Kristina Kite Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Boys & Girls, curated by Alex Berns, No Gallery, New York, NY

2020

There Will Come Soft Rains, Gallery Candace Madey, New York, NY

An Artist Age Mess, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY

2019

Nurikabe, organized by Troedsson Villa, Tetsuo’s Garage, Nikko, Japan

Peel, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA

Creation of a Moment, KaviarFactory, Henningsvær, Norway

THINK OF ME, Adams & Ollman, Portland, OR

Les Soirées de Paris, Crèvecoeur, Paris, France

2018

Figure in a Landscape, Foxy Production, New York, NY

Group exhibition with Huong Ngo, Elizabeth Atterbury, and Gordon Hall, Document, Chicago, IL

Being: New Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2017

Rubbings, Skibum MacArthur, Los Angeles, CA

Webutuck Vuitton, curated by Carlos Reyes, The Re-Institute, Millerton, NY

redirecting, Simone Subal, New York, NY

We The Watchers Are Also Bodies, Hercules, New York, NY

2016

Under all this dirt the floor is really very clean, Motel, Brooklyn, NY

Dana Hoey & Em Rooney, Raising Cattle, Montreal, Canada

After the Sun, The Vanity Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Center for Experimental Lectures, Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY

2015

Kleenex Rose, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY

Space Answers, Bannerette, New York, NY

2014

I Make Me Up: The Work of Robert Seydel and His Students, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 

Sex Without Bodies, Temporary Agency, New York, NY

2013Silhouettes, Fort Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
2012

B-Out , Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY

Wrest, Spectrum, New York, NY

2011

The Associates, 1717 Troutman Gallery, New York, NY 

Night Swings, Bodega (Derosia), Philadelphia, PA

Gender Reel Art and Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA 

A Love Supreme, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA

Woot!, The Ice Box, Philadelphia, PA 

Vagabondage, curated by Candice Madey, Hunter College, New York, NY

 

   

LECTURES AND PANELS

 

2024

Hunter College, New York, NY

The University of California, Los Angeles, CA

2023

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Emily Carr University, Vancouver, Canada

2022The University of Southern Florida, Tampa, FL
2021Yale University Sculpture Department, New Haven, CT
2019Gary Metz Lecturer, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2018

Forever in Transition: Reconsidering Art and Politics of the 1980s, Panel Discussion, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Visiting Critic, Columbia MFA Program in Visual Art, New York, NY

Visiting Critic, School of Visual Arts, MFA Summer program, New York, NY

Visiting Critic, Cranbrook School of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI

2017

Visiting Artist Lecture, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

PENCIL, COIN, KEYBOARD, DRINKING GLASS, HUMAN HAND OR FINGER, Situations, New York, NY

2016

Remembering the 60’s: Rowland Scherman Panel Discussion, Denison University, Granville, OH 

Visiting Artist Lecture, Ohio University, Athens, OH  

Center for Experimental Lectures, Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY 

2015Visiting Artist Lecture, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH

    

         

SELECTED CURATORIAL PROJECTS 

 

2017Other Romances: Marissa Bluestone, Terry Evans, Emma Hedditch, Xylor Jane, Baseera Khan, Sable Elyse Smith, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, NY
2015Toward a Thinking Rug: Eileen Myles, Grady O’Connor, Eric Veit, Carmen Winant, and Zoë Wright, Banerette, Brooklyn, NY
2014Portraits in Convex Mirrors: Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Marissa Bluestone, Yevgeniya Baras, Michael Berryhill, Leigh Ruple, Alex Cohen, Xinyi Cheng, Nickolas Roudané, Bannerette, Brooklyn, NY 
2012

How to be Brash in New Unreddened Spaces: Isle Murdock, Emre Kocagil, Elanor Aldrich, Shirah Neumann, Gabe Pionkowski, Anna So Young Han, Ash Ferlito, Mary Vetisse, The Bermont Lab, Skowhegan, ME 

Celeste Dupuy-Spencer: The Deal, The Nicola Midnight St. Claire, Online

2011

Joanna Seitz: Rooms, Tyler Photography Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Elizabeth Atterbury and Ashley Clarke: Thieves in the Temple, Tyler Photography Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 

Bryan Graf: Sun Room, Tyler Photography Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Elyse Derosia: Natural Portrait, Tyler Photography Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

Xylor Jane: Notebooks, 2019, Print

Masculini (contributor) by Nancy Lupo, 2015

18+: Whatever Bodies, Races, Things, Art Papers, 2013, Print

Love is in the Flowers, Good Press, 2013, Print

On Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Performa Magazine Online, 2013

Night Swings, Bodega Press, 2012, Print

Knees On Neck, Rhinoceros Event: Issue #2, 2012

Laurie Anderson at The Fabric Workshop, The Nicola Midnight St. Claire, 2012

Introspective /Retrospective, Fleisher/Ollman , The Nicola Midnight St. Claire, 2012

The Philadelphia Story: A Check Up, The Nicola Midnight St. Claire, 2012

 

 

SELECTED PRESS

 

Twilight Talks with Kevin Moore, CUNY TV, May 26, 2022, Television

Em Rooney’s Entrance of Butterfly, R.H. Lossin, Art Agenda, May 13, 2022

Em Rooney, an interview with Wendy Vogel, Foundwork, October 25, 2021

Interview: Em Rooney on finish and embodiment in “Women in Fiction,” Ashton Cooper, Artforum, December 15, 2020

Our Sense of Self and the Chaos of our Strongest Feelings, Emile Rubino, La Chauffage, Issue One, Print

Em Rooney Explores the Photograph as Something to Be Held, Rosalind Duguid, Elephant Magazine, August 18, 2020

Partial Accountings of Photography, Sheilah ReStack, BlackFlash Magazine, Issue 37.1, 2020 

Em Rooney, Objectiv Magazine Issue 20, November 3, 2019, Print

Interview: Em Rooney, Brainard Carey, Yale University Radio, July 4, 2019, Radio

Basel Roundup, Ingo Niermann, Art Agenda, June 18, 2019

Paris Internationale, Julie Ackermann, Beaux Arts, October 19, 2018

Em Rooney, David Everitt Howe, Art in America, June 1, 2018, Print

10 Galleries to Visit Now on the Lower East Side, Holland Cotter, The New York Times, April 26, 2018, Print

MoMA’s ‘New Photography’ Series Asks What It Means to Be Human, André-Naquian Wheeler, i-D, March 27, 2018

MoMA’s Gripping ‘New Photography’ Goes Behind the Lens, Alex Greenberger, ARTnews, March 22, 2018

MoMA’s New Photography Show Is a Testament to Being Human, Sarah Valdez, Garage, March 22, 2018

At MoMA, Photography Doesn’t Have to Reinvent Itself to be Radical, Scott Indrisik, Artsy, March 20, 2018

Being: New Photography 2018 at MoMA, Maisie Skidmore, British Journal of Photography, March 15, 2018 

Being and Belonging at MoMA, Annika Klein, Aperture, March 15, 2018

What’s New in Photogoraphy? Humanism, MoMA Says, Arthur Lubow, The New York Times, March 9, 2018

Look Harder: Good Art Things to See This Week, Rachel Miller, Brooklyn Magazine, December 7, 2016

LA Critic’s Guide, Olivian Cha, Frieze, September 2016

Em Rooney, Andrew Kachel, Artforum, January 2016

Em Rooney, ‘The Word for Forest’ at Bodega, ARTnews, January 22, 2016

Portraits in Convex Mirrors, Scott Robinson, Painting is Dead, October 12, 2014

 

 

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

 

2024Anonymous Was A Woman Grant Nominee
2019MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Peterborough, New Hampshire
2017Interstate Studio Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2016Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant
2015Shandaken at Storm King Artist in Residence, New Windsor, NY
2013Pollock-Krasner Grant for Emergency Fellowship
2011A Love Supreme juried by Peter Barbary, First Prize 
2010

Project Completion Grant, Temple University 

Teaching Assistantship, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA 

 

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

 

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL

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197 Grand St, 2W, New York, NY 10013     Tuesday–Saturday 12–6pm