By Francesca Merwin, staff writer

 

There is a grand community of artists in Syracuse – some well-known, some at the creative fringe, and others whom we have yet to discover. One of our aims on the Connective Corridor is to seek out these folks and highlight their endeavors. For the next several months, we will follow Brendan Rose, Syracuse Public Artist in Residence (SPAR), and his triumphs (and sometimes trials) as an up-and-coming regional artist. Consider this an insider’s look into one local artist’s life.

That’s some interesting looking art above this article, isn’t it? All of those brightly colored boxes, breaking through walls and sticking out of different places. The creation looks almost random- yet you can tell that it’s been carefully thought out. These spatial creations were part of a February installation entitled “Six Makes One,” which Brendan Rose created with Brianna Kohlbrenner and Lock 49 at Craft Chemistry. The installation was based off a similar art piece that the group did last year and wanted to revisit. Revisit, revisit, revisit- part of the philosophy of Brendan Rose.

“I think a lot of art projects are like that,” Rose says. “It’s the idea of painting a portrait or a ceramicist throwing a pot on the wheel. You keep doing it over and over and asking, ‘How can I do it differently- and better this time?’” Rose is “playing around” with concepts that have been evolving in his mind for months. He’s revisiting.

First, the bike racks. The Public Arts Task Force, a group in which Rose is a proud member, put together a proposal for the Rack Pack project back in July. And now, the idea to put unique bike racks around the city has finally been approved. The first bike rack, which was created by Rose, is now being fabricated and will be installed on Westcott Street in the spring. “You’ve got to be invested in the long run with all of these projects to make them work,” Rose admits.

But as we’ve noticed, Rose tends to pick ideas that he does really care about and ideas that he can easily invest in. The Love Project, for example, has gone through countless drafts, presentations and planning, but Rose has stuck by it. He’s still not sure exactly when or where the project will be installed; but he definitely has the concept down. Rose has settled on the idea of doing a series of “mini installs” for his last project as Public Artist in Residence.

He will create a Lover’s Bench, a Here Viewer, a Wishway, and a Bell of Abandon. Cool names, right? Each piece represents a different concept of love that Rose has stumbled upon. Each piece will feature a slogan that will help connect each piece and make it one, grand installation. For example, the Lover’s Bench- or kissing bench- represents the idea of physical, immediate love. A phrase will say (somehow) that if you kiss someone on this bench, you will be lucky in love. The Wishway, an archway, will feature a phrase that asks you to tie a ribbon around it to symbolize commitment. The Here Viewer, which points to different spots at an intersection, might say something like, “I will know you tomorrow” and the Bell of Abandon, which you ring for lost love, might say, “I left my love here.”

The videos that Rose collected back in October were the main inspiration for this series of love. “Watching the people on the videos partially drove my idea for this,” Rose says. “I wanted to address different connections that people made relative to love. Some people talked about place, some talked about a person or thing, and some talked about lost love.” A series of installs makes sense when you talk about the grand idea of love. How do you really capture such a thing in only one piece?

Even in four pieces, it’s a process. But Rose seems significantly further along than he was just a few months ago. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t given up on the crazy ideas he seem to come up with quite regularly. And Rose thinks things out so meticulously that it is impossible to know when he’ll be finally ready to break ground and create something. But you can feel every part of his process in his end creations- and that’s how you know it’s a true Brendan Rose piece. Revisit, revisit, revisit.