Current Exhibition
Pastports
Works by Rosa Leff
Free and Open to the Public
December 17, 2022–January 29, 2023
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In her meticulously hand-cut streetscapes, Rosa Leff explores changing cities and the concept of time. Her subject matter is drawn from photos she took during her travels, including the destinations of Japan, China, Puerto Rico, and the U.S.
The exhibition features work Leff made pre-pandemic based on these images, alongside new work based on photos from the same travels. With a post-lockdown eye, she has discovered new details in the source material that were seemingly insignificant before and are now beautifully intriguing.
“These recent papercuts reveal the things I was unable to see before. In a photo of a busy market scene I discovered a man making eye contact with my camera, likely thinking that I was attempting to take his picture,” Leff remarks. “In another I discovered a pigeon sitting watch over a crowded intersection. Each of these seemingly insignificant details combines to make a street a street. Nothing lasts forever, and memories fade, but in that beautiful blur that is nostalgia there is more to be discovered.”
Artist Talk with Rosa Leff
Rosa Leff discussed the process for creating her work in Pastports – and revisiting her own pieces a few years later with a post-lockdown eye – in a virtual artist talk facilitated by Pyramid’s Artistic Director, Gretchen Schermerhorn.
About the Artist
Between painting alongside her grandmother and watching her father build reproduction antique furniture, Rosa Leff grew up seeing no distinction between fine art and craft. What mattered was that things were made by hand and done well. It is with that in mind that she creates her hand cut paper pieces. Leff delights in bringing a modern, urban perspective to a traditional folk medium.
Currently based in Baltimore, Leff has a BA with concentrations in art history and Spanish from Sarah Lawrence College and MS in elementary education from University of Pennsylvania. She was apprenticed to Alejandro Cordobés at Instituto Superior De Arte in Havana, Cuba. She exhibits nationally and internationally and her work is in the permanent collections of The Colored Girls’ Museum in Philadelphia and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.
Learn more about Leff’s process: Watch this “People | Things” Video by Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez (@eyelumworks for @peopethingsproject)
Exhibition Gallery:
Made possible in part through funding provided by
Previous Galleries
- Nov 19 2022: 10x10 INVITATIONAL 2022
- Oct 15 2022: ALTERED ENVIRONMENTS
- Aug 20 2022: LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER
- Jun 17 2022: ARE WE THERE YET
- May 07 2022: LIFE AQUATIC
- Mar 11 2022: MEMBERS MASHUP 2022
- Jan 22 2022: EXPLORING DEAF GEOGRAPHIES
- Dec 4 2021: 10x10 INVITATIONAL 2021
- Sep 17 2021: REFLECTING BACK TO THE FUTURE
- Jul 24 2021: NINE ARTISTS
- May 29 2021: MAPS AND MAZES
- Apr 16 2021: NATURAL CONNECTIONS
- Feb 26 2021: RELIEF
- Nov 13 2020: 10x10 INVITATIONAL 2020
- Sep 26 2020: MASHUP 2020: ELECTION YEAR