2018

Void

American, born 1962

Philadelphia artist James Rose created two oversized drawings of his face, titled Null and Void. He imposes a visual order using crosses that simultaneously mark and obscure his likeness. Rose has explained that his work engages "issues surrounding spirituality, race, and sexuality," particularly through the representation of his own body. His drawings reflect a struggle to achieve "emotional balance" in a world where, as a gay Black man, he is alternately targeted and ignored, "seen and not seen usually for all the wrong reasons." The titles Null and Void—and his process of gouging the crosses into the drawings—speak to this erasure.