Rosemarie Chiarlone

March 11 - May 16, 2022

WAAM is pleased to present the studio archives of Miami-based artist Rosemarie Chiarlone. The exhibition Imprints takes us on a journey of the artist's studio practice from the 1990s to the present and illustrates Chiarlone's experimentation with design, textual imagery, materiality, and structural forms. To Imprint, is to mark or stamp or make an impression. The nature of an imprint is itself subject to change, as, over time, an imprint can fade, erode or disintegrate.

Chiarlone alludes to the ephemerality of the physical and the psychological through visual exploration and deconstruction of language. Textual landscapes on paper, hand-made books, textiles, and organic materials present the viewer with maze-like poetic excursions. In her hand-made books, letters are delicately perforated to form graphic images in relief. Often made in collaboration with poet Susan Weiner, each book unfolds to reveal emblematic words that reference gender, political and social issues. Whether sewn, perforated, or punctured, each word is imbued with a dynamic agency that contains multiple meanings. Chiarlone’s books deftly challenge conventional formats and function on multiple levels including sculpture and installation.