WESERBURG MUSEUM FÜR MODERNE KUNST | BREMEN, GERMANY
Kay Rosen, Kiss of Death, 2011 Private collection, Bremen, Germany
Ever since the 1970s, Kay Rosen (*1943 in Corpus Christi, Texas; lives in New York City and Gary, Indiana) has been using language as artistic material. She is internationally known above all for wall works which render individual words, sentences or series of letters, often in massive dimensions. They come together in an impressive manner are minimalist form, aesthetic impact and intelligent contents.
Whether climate crisis, AIDS, gender issues or the relationship between power, self-empowerment and powerlessness—her works are permeated by political themes and reflect with pointed expressivity on current debate. Kay Rosen, however, emphasizes that she is not motivated by politics but by language itself, seeking constantly new interconnections between image, word and script. For this purpose, she uses multifaceted visual and typographical strategies that extend a bridge between the disciplines of the visual arts, literature and poetry. Thus, she creates plays on words and linguistic images that not infrequently employ levity and wittiness for seductive effect and only gradually reveal their ambiguity.
