C.W. Roelle

From my review of C.W. Roelle’s "Not Just Women In White Dresses" at AS220:

Every artist aims to develop a trademark look. Most carve out an individual style within the usual tried and true playing field — a certain way with paint, a certain slant to their photos — but C.W. Roelle has accomplished the rare feat of staking out his territory off these beaten paths.

He creates astonishingly three-dimensional scenes by turning simple black wire into something resembling pen drawings floating in thin air. He lures you in with his subjects, usually curious Victorian-looking dreams — like his ornate six-foot-tall portrait of a pair of seated ladies in long flowing dresses with a couple dancing behind them that was exhibited in the "NetWorks 2008" show at the Newport Art Museum last winter. But his ultimate subject may be the nature of three-dimensional space itself.

"Not Just Women In White Dresses," Roelle's show at AS220's Project Space, is his most accomplished and bewitching yet.

Read the rest here.

C.W. Roelle, "Not Just Women In White Dresses," AS220's Project Space, 93 Mathewson Street, Providence, July 8 to 27, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: C.W. Roelle, “How to Enjoy the Paper,” “The Flock Cage,” “Small Mini Bridge” and “Large Mini Bridge,” “Two Birds Talking,” “Winter to Spring 1977,” “Penance for an Education,” “Oops, sorry, This isn’t Right at All,” “Dead Pelican” and “’Aahhh, There You Are, Ready to Go?’ ‘Yes, Just About.’” All wire with spraypaint.