New York Magazine
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Rodger Stevens is an artist who works primarily with wire. But he has added Hudson River driftwood to his repertoire since moving with his family from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to Nyack three years ago. “We looked at countless houses dripping with charm,” he wrote me about his move. “But the thought of having to maintain a very old house while raising two very young kids”—Ella, 8, pictured here with her father, and Clyde, 5—“seemed downright irrational.”
Photo: Mark Seelen
Rodger took over the two-car garage that “has never hosted a car” and made it his studio. His wired world, which encompasses “sculpture, lighting, jewelry, shoelace repairs, you name it,” includes room for his children’s paintings.
Photo: Mark Seelen
Clyde’s bedroom has a bed made for jumping and wall art from his father. The wire sculptures represent the important things in Clyde’s life, namely, a fleet of spaceships.
Photo: Mark Seelen
The cheerful living room is decorated with quilts and knit blankets, an Eames chair, and a rag rug.
Photo: Mark Seelen
A detail of the family dining table, with Rodger’s wire art above the window and door frames.
Photo: Mark Seelen
Ella and Clyde relax in a corner of the living room, where the grown-ups are allowed too.
Photo: Mark Seelen
An example of Rodger’s driftwood art, seen on the lawn of a home in New Paltz. His work is represented by the Abingdon 12 gallery (rodgerstevens.info) and has been featured in Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewelry” sale (Rodger worked at Sotheby’s for six years doing exhibition installations) and in the new Barneys store in Scottsdale.
Photo: Rodger Stevens
One of the wood lamps Rodger designed for Green Depot.
Photo: Rodger Stevens
A series of dog portraits Rodger made recently for Jonathan Adler stores.
Photo: Rodger Stevens
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Photo: Mark Seelen
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.