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For his static compositions, Rose inks the threads and places them on top of paper while the tone runs through them. The result is his visual recording of sound. The artworks' simple vertical marks, which divide the paper evenly, resemble Barnett Newman's zip paintings. But where Newman uses vertical lines to define his painting's spatial fields, Rose's lines are the central focus, uniting visual and auditory into a singular composition. Their subtle curves and splatter cut through the paper's white space, which is analogous to "noise," and the inked lines represent "sound." Or if you want to take it all the way to a life metaphor, Rose's art is about how meaning emerges from the unintelligible.
The work is formally and conceptually coherent and offers room for interpretation, but it feels like Rose could push further. Those shadows from the vibrating strings made me think of ways that tones can be layered—one on top of another, as in a symphony—to make experiencing them more personal and rewarding. Then there are the choices of sounds, which are infinite. Rose's sound installation might be low-hanging fruit as far as sound art goes, but it's a formally satisfying experience that makes us want to put our ear to the ground for more.
SEE/HEAR IT: Entwined: A Sound Installation is at PDX Contemporary Art, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063, through June 27.
WWeek 2015