There Isn’t Any Is

Under the pseudonym, John Paul Rosenberg, “There Isn’t Any Is” transforms discarded remnants – stained and frayed utility tarps, and painters’ drop cloths, into mixed-media assemblages. Through geometric abstraction, trompe l’œil, and deconstructed surfaces, the negative space becomes potential: harmonizing with the wall, and suspended by strings, folds, rolls, and straps that tug, strive and reveal, turning two-dimensional objects into three-dimensional, anthropomorphic ‘actionables.’  

The series title, and work titles such as “There Is No Meaning And This Is Good News” trace back to Werner Erhard, the controversial founder of the est trainings, and a figure often associated with the Human Potential Movement. While Erhard rejected the notion of pre-existing potential, insisting instead on transformation that begins from nothing, his paradox became a provocation for this series. One piece, titled, Nothingness, is formed from a scrap remnant where the large void between the stretcher bars carries agency – an echo of Erhard’s sentiment.

But the most striking remnant was not material. It was a name. A name Werner Erhard himself discarded – his birth name, John Paul Rosenberg. Like the tarps and drop cloths, I reclaimed it, and in that reclamation – a transformation, and new possibilities occurred.