September 3 – October 27, 2024

NADA House
Nolan Park House 17
Governors Island, New York

Gerardo Rosales: Shape Shifting Landscape

Bill Arning Exhibitions is thrilled to announce that Gerardo Rosales has been selected for the 2024 NADA House presentation on Governors Island in the New York Harbor.

The sixth edition of NADA House, this collaborative exhibition brings together twenty-one artists presented by seventeen art galleries and art spaces. Participating artists engage the unique character of the nineteenth-century military residence with art works in a diverse range of mediums. The exhibition opens to the public on Tuesday, September 3, and will be on view through October 27. Opening week features special hours and a reception on Friday, September 6, from 2–5pm at Nolan Park House 17 on Governors Island. The exhibition and opening events are free and open to the public; no RSVP is required.

For NADA House, Houston-based Venezuelan artist Gerardo Rosales will extend and build on the aspects of his public work that address issues of immigration and are informed by indigenous mythologies of Venezuala;s jungle regions,

Rosales is showing a new installation entitled Shape Shifting Landscape that explores his experience as an immigrant in the United States. Following his home country’s economic and political free fall, Rosales endeavors to stimulate an inquisitiveness and empathy about the dire situation and those affected by making Venezuela’s current state vivid, moving beyond the abstraction it has become in US media outlets. Rosales’s NADA House presentation considers the unique qualities and opportunities offered by the non-gallery domestic space and its uniquely diverse audience. Shape Shifting Landscape comprises a composition of two and three dimensional Dibond cutouts in concert with traditional paintings on canvas. 

Rosales constructs intricate layers of personal symbolism, employing a folk-art language to generate a dynamic visual space that contains and manifests political, social, and environmental realities. The magical and medical promises hidden in the nation’s deep forests—endangered by economic greed and lack of leadership—are visually rendered through his lens as a queer expatriate.

About the Artist

Born in Venezuela, Gerardo Rosales is a visual artist currently based in Houston, Texas.

Rosales began as a self-taught artist, later attending the Armando Reverón Art Institute in Caracas, where he earned a BA in Fine Art. After graduating he moved to London to study at Chelsea College of Art and Design, gaining an MA in Fine Art.

At university Rosales became more resourceful in the use of mixed media and started producing more social-oriented works. His themes provide a contrast using the fascination for patterns and ornaments to confront the viewer with images that deal with themes of identity, social issues, and the power dynamics in society. Rosales draws inspiration from his Venezuelan heritage and his experience as immigrant in the United States. His fascination with the biodiversity of Houston’s flora and fauna is reflected in some of his latest projects, including a group of large paintings that will be installed at the new Terminal D at the city’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.