The Untitled Space Presents Michael Rose "In Spite of It" Solo Exhibition

The Untitled Space is pleased to present “In Spite of It,” a solo exhibition of paintings by artist Michael Rose curated by Indira Cesarine, opening with an artist reception on February 21st and on view through February 28th, 2025. 

In his latest solo exhibition, In Spite of It, Brooklyn-based artist and composer Michael Rose explores the intricacies of emotion, memory, and perception through his distinct approach to portraiture and the human form. With this series, Rose presents a body of work that hovers in a space between clarity and dissolution, exploring themes of alienation, fragmentation, and the tension between the permeable and isolated self.

Rose's paintings transcend traditional representation, pushing boundaries of the human form. His works shift between states of near-recognition and abstraction, where features dissolve into ethereal atmospheres or sharp contrasts emerge from a haze. The human figure becomes both clear and elusive, a dynamic dance of form and formlessness, where auras, shadows, and edges phase in and out of alignment.

The works in In Spite of It take on a prismatic, iridescent quality, mirroring the emotional complexity of their subjects. This quality is enhanced through Rose’s unique, layered painting technique—combining slow glazing and rapid, spontaneous brushwork to create surfaces that are rich in texture and visual depth. Each painting seems to hover between memory and reality amalgamation, as if capturing the raw sensation of a fleeting emotional state, unbound by traditional visual norms. The interplay between meticulously prepared surfaces and impulsive gestures gives way to anatomical studies of emotion, where the internal landscape is as vivid and fluctuating as the external one. 

“Like the iridescent visual effect of light passing through barely offset films— such as oil resting a molecule's width above water on the pavement—an iridescence of emotion and self can form in these figures.” - Michael Rose 

Painted on a variety of surfaces including wood, canvas, linen, and polyester, these works break free from conventional representations of the body. Rose's deliberate focus on the thinness of skin and the tension between the self and its environment suggests that the line between the body and the world around it is not just porous but fragile, impossible to define, yet constantly in flux. 

Through In Spite of It, Michael Rose continues to push the boundaries of emotional expression in art, inviting the viewer to experience a profound meditation on the human condition—one that is both personal and universal, defined by constant flux, transformation, and renewal. 

“These figures form in spite of this paradox, the gnawing growths that attempt to swallow or consume them, and the constant process of generation and dissolution. They resist naturalism not to obscure, but to express something not easily depicted: how a feeling, or a complex chord of sensations, looks without regard to representations aligned with the visual electromagnetic spectrum. The resulting images are like anatomical studies of emotional states as if seeing from the inside out.” - Michael Rose 

Michael Rose is a painter, musician, and curator based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds an MFA in Fine Arts from The New School: Parsons (2020) and a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (2013), where he also completed a residency at the RISD European Honors Program in Rome (2012). Rose’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Artego (2024) and The Untitled Space (2023), as well as group exhibitions at venues such as Bendheim Gallery (2023), Field Projects (2022), and Kellen Gallery (2021). In addition to his painting practice, he has co-curated group exhibitions at various locations and has released an album of synthetic piano music. Rose’s upcoming solo show at The Untitled Space in 2025 will further expand on his exploration of emotional landscapes through his distinct visual language.