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David Roesing, *Engagement*, 2018, Oil, acrylic, marker on canvas, 72 x 36 inches

Anna Rosen and David Roesing, *Cynthia*, 2018, Oil, acrylic, dye, inkjet on linen 123 x 58 inches

Anna Rosen and David Roesing, *Cynthia*, 2018, Found metal, clay, wig

Anna Rosen, *Liquid Skirt*, 2018, Oil and acrylic on raw silk, 42 x 42 inches

David Roesing, *Untitled*, 2018, Dry erase marker on whiteboard with glass and toy, 48 x 25 x 35 inches

Anna Rosen, *By the Banks*, 2018, Oil and acrylic on cotton, 32 x 38 inches

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368 BROADWAY #511, NEW YORK NY 10013

ANNA ROSEN and DAVID ROESING

Rote Braid

May 19 – July 1, 2018

Cellular candles melted in a radiation whirlpool, what to make of Godzilla? In Japan, he was a karmic horror, a pulpy refraction of the terrible history of man. Early producer Shogo Tomiyama points upwards: “he…totally destroys everything and then there is a rebirth. Something new and fresh can begin."

But would that fly in America? Tri-Star Pictures wasn’t sure; for their 1998 American iteration, they jettisoned all history, and adapted. The creature was naturalized; a fast moving lizard, more animal than monster, hiding their asexual eggs all over New York City.

For the part of “Nick”, the radiation specialist who eludes Godzilla in a series of taxis, Tri-Star tapped Matthew Broderick, of course. Broderick exudes a grounding awareness—drawing on his Reagan era flaneur, Ferris, who famously toured Chicago, guided only by his unholy sense of truancy and boner for automobiles.

Denying the fourth wall, he sees us, and his place in the social ecology. As the lead character of his next movie, Inspector Gadget says, “Any system of rules will grow, and develop a capacity for self-reference, a level-crossing feedback loop, a consciousness.”

Rote Braid features three pairs of works by Anna Rosen and David Roesing. Two by Anna, two by David, and two made jointly, the set explores the pair’s interest in patterned excess, tasteless decoration and low culture reanimated as high metaphysics, and repressed mystery.