Oakland Museum Sculpture Court

1111 Broadway
Oakland, California

Edo Rosenberg
Recent Sculpture

January 18 - May 5, 2000

This exhibition presents the work of Edo Rosenberg, a sculptor who maintains a studio in Woodacre, Marin County. A native of South Africa, Rosenberg received his early art education at the Avni Art Academy in Tel Aviv, Israel, before undertaking graduate study at Oakland's California College of Arts and Crafts. Since earning his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1980, he has taught sculpture at CCAC, San Francisco State University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, while exhibiting his work internationally. Some of the works on view here are recently returned from his solo exhibition at the O.K. Harris Gallery in New York City.

Rosenberg's sculptures are created from flat steel, cut with a plasma cutter and welded, using cranes and lifts to position the various components. While they are non-representational, i.e. not depicting a specific, known object, their sources lie in common objects and the relationships of materials and forms Rosenberg sees in the urban landscape. Seeing "... a shovel resting on a road ... a pile of lumber", and observing knives, blades, and plows set his ideas in motion.

Rosenberg says "When working in metal, the commitment to shape is a large one, but can be changed easily. I draw directly on the metal, cut out the shapes, and combine them. The piece changes as the process moves along. There is no one answer to the piece, just the last choice." This organic way of working, especially in a material of the weight and rigidity of steel, is unusual; equally so is the quality of lightness and movement Rosenberg achieves in the work. The sculptures are very much at home out-of-doors, where their lightly oiled surfaces and organic forms seek a balance with nature.

Philip E. Linhares
Chief Curator of Art
Oakland Museum of California