Clare Rojas: Hope Springs Eternal

Women of all ages and colors in simple, patterned dresses fill Rojas's works, full of confidence and big smiles. And men with soft, slumped bodies are often depicted naked in simple, flowing lines. The compassion and humor in these reversals, along with the exuberance of Rojas's creative power in a barrage of media--among them vibrant gouache-on-panel painting, installation, film, printmaking, quilting and banjo--have brought her increasing attention. The New York Times's Roberta Smith wrote in a 2004 review that Rojas's work "brims with promise."Hope Springs Eternal, the artist's first book, is not just an in-depth selection of images but an object in itself, its soft cover embossed with a quilted motif. Rojas studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Art Institute of Chicago, she is represented by Deitch Projects in New York and her work has appeared in the traveling show, Beautiful Losers, among others.