Allison Rosh

My work is focused on the chaos of life and the inability to grasp permanence. The process taken to create this body of work involves working with the unknown, which often is an experimental and accidental result from the printing process. Through this way of working there is a struggle to find a resolution and sense of control amidst the chaos created through layers. Thin and fragile paper stencils are individually cut, while pieces of string and twine are unraveled into single strands. They are meticulously placed onto an inked mat board to block areas out when printing. Despite the delicate placement of the stencils the pressure of the press and weight of the wet paper shift and distort them. What began as a planned thought has turned into a flattened cluster.

Upon pulling the print off the press the copious amounts of paper, string, and twine create a tangled and knotted mass. From this mass, I aggresively untangle each wrinkled stencil to reuse in the next print. By reusing each stencil, a transfer of ink occurs and a relationship between prints is formed. This process has lead me to realize that we live our lives caught in disorder and hope to find a way to control it.

Throughout this body of work there is a sense of history created by layers of entwined lines. In certain prints the lines are tangled and confined in space, while others seem as though the lines are churning and broiling, ready to erupt. The prints individually suggest moments of anxiety, or loneliness, frustration, or uncertainty. By trying to control the chaos, a hint of clarity comes to the surface. The sequence of these works suggests the progression of tension and containment that results in an eruption, which causes the tangled lines to disperse in disarray.