Getting to this show in Boston’s North End on a Thursday night in August was an adventure: traffic, more traffic, no parking, a street festival in full swing, up a few flight of stairs and then, whoosh, as if through a wormhole, I arrive at Space One Two One, apartment gallery project by Rory Fitzgerald Bledsoe, and into the magical sphere of Gem Rosenberg’s art.

Her small scale creations displayed here in an intimate one room solo exhibition sparkle, move gently, and emanate sounds. Some objects just quietly look at you, but each and every piece quietly draws you into a place that is the artist’s, yours, and something collective.

Free Cage 3×5″ 2012 Paper, paper pulp, ink

In one corner, there’s a book with the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretl , transformed into a dark Dadaist poem by Gem’s cutting and editing. Listening to her reading it out loud through the headphones attached to the exhibition piece provides a mesmerizing experience of being both somewhere in the artist’s head, in my own head, and in a realm where the ghosts of Kurt Schwitters and Meret Oppenheim playfully roam.

Free Cage 3×5″ 2012 Paper, paper pulp, ink

Another corner opens up into a closet, where, if you gently lift up their lids, you find egg cartons with egg-shaped paper objects inside. They have pages. Are they little egg books, or eggs inscribed with some strange literary DNA? They also look like little creatures with open mouths and many tongues. Why are they so moving? And why, until now, have I never before lovingly thought of ovaries as seats of creativity when looking at eggs in a carton? Yes, this is moving, and funny, and, at the same time, the fragility of Gem Rosenberg’s creations made out of paper, thread, wit and shimmer is shattering. 

Thank you Gem, for digging deep, and for unearthing such tender threads of connections and letting them cast around freely.

Bone/Orb 9×12″ 2017 Paper/ink

PIECEMEAL, an exhibition of Gem Rosenberg’s art is curated by Rory Fitzgerald Bledsoe, an independent artist/curator who hosts shows in her apartment. For more information, follow her on Instagram.

Space One Two One
a curatorial/apartment gallery project by Rory Fitzgerald Bledsoe
North End

By appointment.
Best times to see the show are nights & weekends.
Contact: [email protected]
Instagram: @whoizrory

The Show runs through September 17th.

Gem Rosenberg
Gem Rosenberg is a Boston based interdisciplinary artist working in collage, performance, and found objects. 

http://www.gemrosenberg.com/
Instagram: @gemica.rosenberg