We are excited to announce a special pop-up exhibition with Rikki Rothenberg from August 29-30, 2016. Please save the date for the reception & performance on August 29 (6-8pm). More info below!

RIKKI ROTHENBERG
Special pop-up exhibition August 29 & 30, 2016
Reception & performance Monday, August 29 (6-8 p.m.)

Nationale proudly presents a pop-up exhibition of new works by Rikki Rothenberg, an artist and therapist currently living in Los Angeles, CA. Between 2009 and 2012, Rothenberg had three solo exhibitions at Nationale and performed here numerous times, either solo or with her aesthetically-inclined, trans-pop-culture, dance-therapy performance group, Woolly Mammoth Comes to Dinner. We are thrilled to welcome back this old friend of the gallery!

The first I noticed it was four years ago while driving through Big Sur. From the coastal highway cliffs these majestic dusty blues and sage greens, vibrant colors set against chalky burnt sienna – were both death and aliveness. I could sit here and stare at these colors, I thought to myself. I could paint this for years. Although I have not focused on landscape or representational work, I felt as though I understood what it meant to be called to the landscape of a place.

Two years later while out walking near my home, I spotted the corpse of a seagull on the inside of the chain linked reservoir wall. I passed that corpse for months. The coyotes seemed to not have wanted this one. It decayed over time, drying out, losing its fur and turning to bone. I would walk by searching for something in this form and wondering.

That awareness of death amidst life, it was profound and humbling. My work as a therapist and artist ultimately intertwine: holding awareness for pain and potential, loss and inspiration. Noticing a breeze by the movement of the leaves, the branches, the flowers. How they dance for our attention. Aiming to replicate the experience—giving space to your lungs, back, neck, jaw, shoulder, legs, and feet. I feel it in my body, that strength and resilience, imperfectly beautiful, organized, repetitive, diverse, and specific.

Rikki Rothenberg is a visual and performance artist. She offers psychotherapy in private practice in Pasadena, CA. Rothenberg earned a BFA in Sculpture from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and a MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She most recently presented a series of new artwork and a performance in a show entitled Divinjnowshoe supported by a residency at PAM. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.