Viola Frey, Studio View – One Man Splitting (detail), 1983. Alkyd oil on canvas, 72 x 96 in. di Rosa collection, Napa. © Artists’ Legacy Foundation / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Bay Area artist Viola Frey (1933-2004) is perhaps best known for her larger than life figurative ceramic sculptures, many of which can be seen scattered throughout the di Rosa landscape. This exhibition focuses on lesser known aspects of Frey’s oeuvre through a selection of di Rosa’s impressive holdings of the artist’s works on paper and canvas. Dating from the 1980s, these works reflect scenes from the artist’s studio packed with portrayals of power and Frey’s own reactions to the frustrations brought on by the frenetic pace of contemporary society.
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Collection in Focus is an ongoing series of exhibitions that highlight important and often understudied objects from di Rosa’s permanent collection that would otherwise remain in storage.

Floris Schönfeld, Sanguine Dreams at di Rosa; The Game (film still), 2014. Courtesy of the artist.

di Rosa is one of 15 regional arts organizations selected to participate in YBCA’s triennial Bay Area Now 7 (BAN7). For the exhibition, di Rosa commissioned San Francisco-based artist and filmmaker Floris Schönfeld to create an alternative creation myth of the di Rosa site in the format of a live action role-playing (LARP) game. Schönfeld collaborated with a local LARP group to integrate di Rosa’s site and collection into their existing game, Sanguine Dreams, a vampire chronicle set in 1980s Sonoma County. The game was played throughout di Rosa’s 217-acre property in the spring of 2014. The project manifests as an installation including film and artifacts from the gaming period and a narrative video discussing the rules of the game.

Jim Melchert, Feathers of a Phoenix (Red) (detail), 2004. Ceramic, 93.5 x 78 in. di Rosa collection, Napa.

This exhibition highlights a selection of works from di Rosa’s permanent collection by conceptual ceramist Jim Melchert. Melchert’s unique method of dropping prefabricated ceramic tiles and reassembling them into new forms became one of his most well-known contributions to the medium. This technique is underscored in the suite of works dating from the 1990s. Melchert, along with other Bay Area contemporaries such as Ron Nagle, Richard Shaw, and Peter Voulkos, played a vital role in elevating the medium of ceramics from craft to fine art.

Read the exhibition brochure
Collection in Focus is an ongoing series of exhibitions that highlight important and often understudied objects from di Rosa’s permanent collection that would otherwise remain in storage.

Floris Schönfeld, The Damagomi Reconstructions; Lab Experiment #2 (detail), 2013. Courtesy of the artist.

This exhibition presents work by two Bay Area-based artists who share a fascination with the overlooked and the unfamiliar. Elisheva Biernoff investigates possible narratives through trompe l’oeil renderings of found and invented artifacts such as postcards and vintage photographs. Floris Schönfeld explores lost histories and the realm of belief through multifaceted research and installation. Together their work infuses wonder to the unknown, questions the relationship between the uncanny and the authentic, and invites discovery.
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