HYPEBAE: INTERVIEW: FAWN ROGERS ON EXTINCTION, EROTICISM AND NATURE'S RAW VULNERABILITY

Sofia de la Cruz, Hypebae, 3 Mar 2023

Meet the Los Angeles-based artist behind the p-ssy Buddha sculptures, orgy pillow installations and sensual oyster paintings. 

 

In Fawn Rogers‘ universe, art recognizes a full range of existence, including the most uncomfortable truths of human nature, such as violence, innocence, and invention. When standing in front of her intimate, yet blunt creative practice, Rogers invites us — the viewers — to investigate and scrutinize the hybridity and experience of being.

 

In essence, Rogers’ work alludes to the notion of power as the currency of human nature and the discord with the natural world. Through a social constructionism lens, her distinctive aesthetic incorporates realism, conceptualism, and the synthesis of text and image. The Oregon-born, Los Angeles-based contemporary artist has notably shown her paintings, photographs, and conceptual installations across all five continents in both traditional and non-traditional locations.

 

Rogers’ first public installation, a three-story site-specific installation titled “Jewels, Gods, and Dust,” occurred in Puna, India, back in 1993. Since this moment, the artist has continued to translate human’s inherent eroticism through larger-than-life canvases depicting nature’s raw vulnerability and majesty infused with a darkly humorous stance. Most recently, Fawn Rogers has exhibited in Miami during Art Basel, Wilding Cran Gallery, Nicodim Gallery and Eric Firestone Gallery.

 

Hypebae recently spoke with the creative about her work using pearls and oysters as symbols of extinction and eroticism. Rogers also opened up about her use of sensuality, sanctity and invasion as a vehicle to offer a witty commentary on the decadence and sustainability of our current time. Scroll down below to read our interview with Fawn Rogers.”

 

I’ve read that you found yourself living on your own at an early age and decided to travel and go to all the museums you could get into. I’m interested to know at a deeper level how your love for art emerged — was it a medium you were always interested in?

 

Art was my first form of communication. I was expressing myself through little mud sculptures and painting odd shapes and forms before I learned to speak, which was around when I was five years old. I don’t know if anyone understood what I was saying then or even now, but it seems fair to say the interest or need to create art has always been there.”

 

Your work examines human nature in conflict with the natural world through paintings, photography, video and sculptural installations. How did you hone your creative practice and what inspires you as an artist?

 

What inspires me is the potential for harmony within myself and diving deeper into the ongoing geological crime scene we’re all actively contributing towards. With all the suffering and conflict happening in the world, I try to appreciate being here, even if it means I am part of our violent garden. Honing my practice is akin to keeping my oyster knife sharp. It’s all a big complex thrill and sorrow.”

 

https://www.hypebae.com

 

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