https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/blog-avenue daily 0.75 2025-05-06 https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/blog-avenue/2016/3/1/dubai-bndkj monthly 0.5 2016-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d4a125e707eb7a02e4055f/1456863401711-L4GULCMN1HZJY6XAFAQY/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Dubai https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/blog-avenue/2016/3/1/budapest-5zz7t monthly 0.5 2016-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d4a125e707eb7a02e4055f/1456863715325-IZSY1YJXJS57RY8JXID7/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Budapest https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/blog-avenue/2016/3/1/paris-6l74r monthly 0.5 2016-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d4a125e707eb7a02e4055f/1456863897354-3K5CGNSC641EWCMIBK83/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Paris https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/gallery daily 0.75 2020-05-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046610703-D46IHX5OWBUS6B1NJ7U2/Coloratura+Furniture-All+Sound-Detail.jpg Gallery - All Sound https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048612500-NQDNQ7WL6M2M4K6E4XHQ/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo14.jpg Gallery - Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046884763-90F3PURCSQS0JHG9ZKKV/Coloratura+Furniture-Elusive+Joy-Detail.jpg Gallery - Elusive Joy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589467961031-46BSW6KCYXQLO9KW3XPD/Coloratura+Furniture-Conjuror+Revealed-Detail.jpg Gallery - CONJUROR REVEALED https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047003906-2NKYIIQW3BP9SLVDMZP1/Coloratura+Furniture-Now%E2%80%99s+the+Time+%28Detail%29.jpg Gallery - Now’s the Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047071708-L9S4GU336RET56WEMSHX/Coloratura+Furniture-Ofrenda+Al+Mar+%28Detail%29.jpg Gallery - Ofrenda Al Mar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047161341-CB2JDAHJTGNUNX0YTP6R/Coloratura+Furniture-Phrenology-Detai.jpg Gallery - Phrenology https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047210705-6ED9FRTJ74WH4R53S9YQ/Coloratura+Furniture-Selfie-Detail.jpg Gallery - Selfie https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047264125-OLVRFZUTUTWHVGF07I13/Coloratura+Furniture-Promenade-Detail.jpg Gallery - Promenade https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047322847-O1KETVYVW52K9DKE035Y/Coloratura+Furniture-Parable-Detail.jpg Gallery - Parable https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047627133-VFCTSE0I8IG5UZ4XSPNP/Coloratura+Furniture-A+Cautionary+Tale-Detail.jpg Gallery - A Cautionary Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588047678341-UXA8TFI0VOIWECNZLRD1/Coloratura+Furniture-Rockefeller+Center-Detail.jpg Gallery - Rockefeller Center https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048278406-J22SSSZ70BX95F8SSFEF/Coloratura+Furniture-Aerial-Detail.jpg Gallery - Aerial https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048323669-3XOEJTR56V1JSOTD0XM6/Coloratura+Furniture-Bel+Canto-Detail.jpg Gallery - Bel Canto https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048371630-YK8RR5T4A9XPCAUQFQ91/Coloratura+Furniture-Esperame+%28Detail%29.jpg Gallery - Espérame https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048436086-LVR23VFMWIGEWZLOQKZL/Coloratura+Furniture-Ouija+%28Detail%29.jpg Gallery - Ouija https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048485779-KSTICW9JFKB0LKA94P3V/Coloratura+Furniture-Collector%27s+Cabinet-Detail.jpg Gallery - Collector’s Cabinet https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048550597-9CS29CBNBLUYINRILVUQ/Coloratura+Furniture-Balancing+Act-Detail.jpg Gallery - Balancing Act https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588048656114-F4HL1HL1QFZ2PEQTAN9D/Coloratura+Furniture-Pegasus+%28Detail%29.jpg Gallery - Pegasus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589467903724-2X3BAP54ULMR43Z4AHR3/Coloratura+Furniture-Ariacne-Detail.jpg Gallery - ARIACNE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046699878-AEZHF5JJO6DHF0HMF4DD/Coloratura+Furniture-Dream+Cars-Detail.jpg Gallery - Dream Cars https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589468052766-5GFBLDP7OB19AUBIGCST/Coloratura+Furniture-March+2nd-Detail.jpg Gallery - MARCH 2nd https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589468150793-5TIY5VPZ7019GQK3FUCV/Coloratura+Furniture-Kelly-Detail.jpg Gallery - DINING TABLE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046948464-X0VP2OF3C918MWLMIIAW/Coloratura+Furniture-Memoria+%28Detail%29.jpg Gallery - Memoria https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Gallery https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/about daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046398313-WR0SOIYW12XQ7T4QR2Z8/Coloratura+Furniture-Balancing+Act-Detail2.jpg About https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/contact daily 0.75 2023-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046508073-TE9AAGR1XAFN4NL701AX/Coloratura+Furniture-African+Table-Detail.jpg Contact https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/resume daily 0.75 2024-12-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1587918881176-UFTZFX6UM7LIBF96W9K9/Home%26DesignFL-01.png Resume https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1587918813114-9FF6GX5M1ZCXJZXJTZSL/Printable+ButtonFL-01.png Resume https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/to-commission daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588046447413-XMYG9A3R3WXKIPHRJCJ6/Coloratura+Furniture-Important+Information+Inside-Detail.jpg Commission https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/elusive-joy daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083277811-TZ400UH24DSB8V4IKXAH/Coloratura+Furniture-Elusive+Joy.jpg Elusive Joy - Elusive Joy Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 49" x 38" x 22" The image of mother and child has been pervasive in art history. Mary Cassatt explored this intimacy repeatedly in her art, as did numerous artists who worked within a religious context: Madonna and child. Raphael, in particular, returned to this theme often, as in a painting called Madonna of the Goldfinch, in which the Christ Child holds the small bird, a symbol of His Passion (the goldfinch feeds among thorns and thistles). In Elusive Joy, key elements have been altered: the baby merely reaches for the bird, and, more important, the woman and child are not connected at all. Is she the mother or not? The word passion might now take on its more familiar, secular meaning, longing and desire, and apply to the woman. At the end of her life, Mary Cassatt admitted her great regret, that she did not have children. On either side of Elusive Joy are terra cotta urns, each embellished with an image of a woman artist. Out of these urns grown the lovely but thorny yellow roses. AVAILABLE Please Inquire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Elusive Joy https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/new-page daily 0.75 2020-04-27 https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/home daily 1.0 2023-11-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1587427236201-BE6RQTC08ZIDIZDOVIED/Akiko+Quotes-01.png Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1587420849658-VS7KHHXZSM84FTDPF5QK/At+35+Graphic4-01.png Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/ed84e29d-031a-4d77-8230-e14331b830ed/Coloratura+Furniture-All+Sound22.jpg Home Collection of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum | Photo by Eric Norbom https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/retrospective daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084159815-PNW3MJEPPDYEJT5LTXJ9/Coloratura+Furniture-Wellspring.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084185549-44S6LS0M0NLSB8EBKTEL/Coloratura+Furniture-Retrospective3.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084213737-Y5L3NQSAPII694BFAQBD/Coloratura+Furniture-Il+Giardino+di+Eden.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084230357-3626FVJV7VF1CJTWUMW3/Coloratura+Furniture-Retrospective1.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589470101917-NT3SELTEXW6SY0FHWCO6/Coloratura+Furniture-Retrospective2.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084271061-N8W02TL33HEH0I34DJYQ/Coloratura+Furniture-Three+Tables.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084291905-V6IXS1VWDLGAF8VYHF50/Coloratura+Furniture-Drum+Tables.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084311089-OLZ5YURDCFNVUHDUPX5G/Coloratura+Furniture-Conjurer+Revealed.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084333785-W1HPKDHBMR3L6PJPNM9K/Coloratura+Furniture-Elusive+Joy-Put+Away+Time.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084362863-AU2P5A1FTHIO04KSANEQ/Coloratura+Furniture-Balancing+Act-Aerial.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084386161-G2LG11PTL937BZGMXLAV/Coloratura+Furniture-Masters+Chest.jpg Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084418878-9EBKWBWL920B1M6P47YF/Coloratura+Furniture-Masters+Chest+%28Detail%29.png Retrospective https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084446070-0NUF48R95YIZJ3WNGLQO/Coloratura+Furniture-Pegasus+Drawing.jpg Retrospective https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/phrenology daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083859638-4FH25PZ4OGAIWBQBD019/Coloratura+Furniture-Phrenology.jpg Phrenology - Phrenology Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 49" x 46" x 22" Phrenology was a nineteenth century psuedo-science studying the compartmentalization of the mind. The title was selected because of its relationship to the era of the piece of furniture as well as the evocative flavor of the still life depicted. The piece was also influenced by the metaphysical paintings of the early twentieth-century Italian painters Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carra. An example of Carra’s work is reproduced in the upper left corner of the top drawer. This American Empire chest is believed to have been made in Richmond, Virginia, in the 1830s. The chest features seven of the eight original Sandwich glass pulls, with one brass pull from the same era. After an unsuccessful search for an eighth glass pull to match the others, I resolved the problem through the painting itself: by placing a similar pull of brass in a disembodied hand, a magical transformation is suggested. This is the sort of serendipitous inspiration we seek from the furniture. Formally, Phrenology continues a study of themes exploring circular and ovoid elements that have been consistent throughout my career, as has my examination of the visual possibilities of overlaid transparent elements (such as veils over objects) and the juxtaposition of pattern on pattern. Photo by Eric Norbom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Phrenology https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/balancing-act daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588081251376-8EQM2NORQGXMCLAJJ4PR/Coloratura+Furniture-Balancing+Act.jpg Balancing Act - Balancing Act Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 45" x 36" x 22" Supported by loving arms, a child balances on the shoulders of her parents while on a visit to the beach. A personal metaphor painted during the awakening independence of our own child, Balancing Act combines visual elements to underscore the solidity of the family unit. From the centrally placed triangular composition to the structural stability of the 1930s five-drawer chest itself, the emphasis is on strength and stability, despite the uncertainty of the world and the future. The sides of the piece reinforce the notion of stability amid change through a repeating pattern adapted from a period textile, on which undulating curves flow around a multitude of triangles. References for this work include paintings from Picasso’s Rose Period as well as his paintings and drawings of monumental figures during the early 1920s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Balancing Act https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/all-sound daily 0.75 2022-11-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/ed84e29d-031a-4d77-8230-e14331b830ed/Coloratura+Furniture-All+Sound22.jpg All Sound - All Sound Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 37" x 59" x 22" Although this painting resembles 1930s New York City, the urban landscapes that recur in my work are always imaginary in order to establish a dream-like quality not linked to a real place. For this sideboard I gathered images from many artists, including Edward Hopper, George Bellows, Isabel Bishop, the Precisionist painters Bernard Boutet de Monvel and Charles Sheeler, Jean Dunand, and architectural draftsman Hugh Ferris. I also looked at photographic images of New York City from the 1920s and ’30s, and graphic design from the period, including geometric-patterned textiles and Fortune magazine covers. I listened to a lot of Billie Holiday and Lester Young and watched early noir films. The challenge was pulling taut, 1930s-style painting compositions and angular jazz-age rhythms together from one surface plane to another, and weaving the colors and textures of an era into the painting. Most important, I was trying to find that elusive zietgeist that might have inspired the original designer of this sleek and cosmopolitan piece. Thematically, I wanted to include the romantic urban melancholy and isolation found in so much of this period’s art. The title, All Sound, comes from a circa-1930 photograph showing the construction of the Chrysler Building. Far in the background a movie marquee reads “all sound,” referring to the new feature of talking pictures. The cinematic allusion and the way the title pinpointed a particular moment in time, concurrent with the era of the sideboard, was appealing. Additionally, in a more poetic way, I liked that this silent room was somehow coexisting with all sounds. All Sound is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Photo by Eric Norbom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg All Sound https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/promenade daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083901086-IHQ8A0GZ1EU1C0G8PZNF/Coloratura+Furniture-Promenade.jpg Promenade - Promenade Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 45" x 44" x 24" Memories of a story told by my grade-school Spanish teacher surround this Art Deco chest of drawers. The señora described the custom in her hometown of the promenade, where, in the public setting of the plaza, clusters of young men and young women without chaperones would walk all through the evening, furtively studying romantic possibilities. These discreet theatrics find their way to the front of this chest in the depiction of two couples strolling in opposite directions. The women, heads together as if in conversation, look slyly sidewise at the passing men, who in turn eye the women going by. The distinctive horizontal drawer pulls of the piece lay across the scene, reminiscent of half-opened slats of Venetian blinds. It is as if the viewer is granted a voyeuristic peek on to this mating game. The tone of the painting on the chest is influenced by the style of the Art Deco period. Sources examined when developing the artwork include the decorative paintings of Jean Dupas and other artists of this time, particularly Diego Rivera and Tamara de Lempicka. The sides and top, covered in patternwork, are reminiscent of metalwork designs by Edgar Brandt and Jean Dunand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Promenade https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/ofrenda-al-mar daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083605473-T06LQQFERW4NL9YDRCHY/Coloratura+Furniture-Ofrenda+Al+Mar.jpg Ofrenda Al Mar - Ofrenda Al Mar Rob Womack and Catherine Roseberry stained glass, enamel paint on wood 5'10" x 7'3" x 1-1/2" Commissioned for a Miami Beach apartment that overlooks the ocean, this two-part, five-panel folding screen draws its inspiration from the sea and sky. The bleached oak framework holds pivoting biomorphic forms which are influenced by the sculptures of Constantine Brancusi and by water-smoothed stones and shells washed up from the ocean. These shapes are painted with abstractions influenced by the works of William Baziotes and suggest the primordial, the mythic and the dreamlike. The colors on one side of each shape are sun-bleached and pale, on the other side sunlit and vivid. Like the sea and sky, the mood of the screen and the room it is in can shift by turning the screen’s numerous shaped forms. More or less light can enter the room; privacy can be controlled. Plus, the sliding glass panels at the top and bottom of the screen can be rearranged, shifted from one space to another or removed altogether. The screen’s interactive qualities allow many possibilities. Although most of our work is done on already existing furniture, Ofrenda al Mar was constructed according to our design. Photo by Wolfgang Jasper https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Ofrenda Al Mar https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/bel-canto daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588081306448-72PL4UP0RAWD2JL5S0VZ/Coloratura+Furniture-Bel+Canto.png Bel Canto - Bel Canto Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 29" x 69" x 44" Relishing memories of a trip to Italy... Underlying the fluid brushwork and amusing vignettes of this table top is a highly researched investigation of regional Italian ceramics through the centuries. The center of the table is painted showing an assortment of Italian majolica tiles, both historic examples and my own variations. These are bordered by decorative bands echoing the motifs which encircle Italian pottery. The legs of this country table were painted a terra cotta color and finished matte to resemble unglazed pottery. In addition, the undercoat for the top was also finished this way, then covered with glazes of oil paint with traces of the terra-cotta showing through in order to duplicate the look of actual ceramic glazes on clay. I see Bel Canto as a contribution to the philosophy of life that makes a meal a celebration of food, wine and the sensuous pleasure of the table. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Bel Canto https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/nows-the-time daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083554609-IRZ8P7M0YNOLUYS34QOK/Coloratura+Furniture-Now%27s+the+Time.jpg Now’s the Time - Now’s the Time Rob Womack reverse painting on glass with mahogany frame 16" x 32" x 32" Bold black-and-white gestural marks on reverse-painted glass set off the international style of this late 1950s coffee table. As the painting is on the underside of the glass, the upper surface remains ice-smooth, creating a contrasting dynamic between the physical action of the painted stroke and the overall cool sophistication of the table. AVAILABLE Please Inquire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Now’s the Time https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/ouija daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083654079-6XYBW6BXDHMXSNK6I3PK/Coloratura+Furniture-Ouija.jpg Ouija - Ouija Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 15" x 60" x 36" Initially, the shape of this mid-century modern table reminded me of the shaped canvases of Ellsworth Kelly (triangular but with bowed edges), and my approach was a rigorous and complexly geometric one of filling the form with circles that touched one another. I planned for the glass circles to be part of the formal interaction of shape and color on the table. The idea was for these glass disks, with their aqua-green edges, to be pushed around and to glide over the surface, encircling and creating compositions both within each disk and within the overall triangular shape. But then the piece became something else. In order for the disks to glide smoothly over the table’s surface it was necessary to add three small felt pads to each glass circle. While shifting the disks and looking at different configurations, I realized the similarities between what I had created and an Ouija board—the gliding felt pads, the hovering glass disks encircling abstract messages. Then I realized the overall tripod shape of the table was that of the Ouija board’s planchette. I wondered if thoughts of Ouija had been there from the beginning. I was delighted that, unknown to my conscience thoughts, I had arrived at the geometry of the mystical, the exact allusive quality I find within the work of Ellsworth Kelly. AVAILABLE Please Inquire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Ouija https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/esperame daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083450137-VBBN8SGXQRTV9Z1P41XB/Coloratura+Furniture-Esperame.jpg Espérame - Espérame Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 30" x 28" x 23" “Espérame, mi amor...” In the tropical heat of late afternoon, four women languidly await the coming evening, with its cooler temperatures and hotter activities. They are saucily insouciant; idly amusing themselves with trinkets or keeping a curious eye out for interesting passersby. The women wear the colors of the tropics, muted in the waning light. Ethnically and culturally, they are the mélange that is the Caribbean—Spanish, French, African, and all combinations thereof. The top of this English Art Deco liquor cabinet features a reverse-painted glass surface; it, and the slide-out shelf, are painted in two tropically-inspired patterns adapted from the same 1930s Mexican ironwork railing. The portraits of Diego Rivera are of particular influence in the look of this work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Espérame https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/a-cautionary-tale daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588088752720-OOBGTB691OQ7FI1P5B7X/Coloratura+Furniture-A+Cautionary+Tale.jpg A Cautionary Tale - A Cautionary Tale Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 63" x 63" x 20" ...vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2 Standards of beauty change from culture, place and time, but all these ideals carry with them the same danger: entrapment. A Cautionary Tale warns of the entrapment of beauty; not of Beauty itself, but of those unattainable, indefinable standards we set ourselves against. Four women lounge in a lovely garden, some place, some time. One sits within a bed of roses, delicately examining a yellow blossom, oblivious to her capture behind a wall of thorns. Another strums an instrument, head bent, eyes closed—but with ears covered, so she only hears the sweet song within her head. A young girl primps before a mirror, blindfolded, seeing what she alone wants to see. The fourth naps restlessly, looking over her shoulder warily for the next beauty coming along to take her place. Painted on a three-drawer, late 1940s Moderne vanity, A Cautionary Tale continues my ongoing explorations of the condition of women. The lushness of the imagery was inspired in part by Indian miniatures of the 18th and 19th centuries. Photos by Eric Norbom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588088790682-QXY2D13J1Y53TYG1RYCZ/Coloratura+Furniture-A+Cautionary+Tail-Detail.jpg A Cautionary Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg A Cautionary Tale https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/pegasus daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083825039-KLA5S4I2ZYV0YTAAIIM8/Coloratura+Furniture-Pegasus.jpg Pegasus - Pegasus Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 42" x 37" x 18" A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets... The jazzy exuberance of Art Deco architecture clearly influenced the design of this handsome stepped cabinet; it, in turn, is a natural for an architectural treatment in paint. A tribute to the era of the streamlined, Pegasus gives a Hopperesque nod to life in an anonymous metropolis of the 1930s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Pegasus https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/collectors-cabinet daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588081376847-LS6TWA3N0864N362A2FZ/Coloratura+Furniture-Collector%27s+Cabinet.jpg Collector’s Cabinet - Collector’s Cabinet Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 44" x 42" x 19" Throughout our experience we have always carefully avoided working on pieces that survive with original patina intact, or fine pieces that could be restored to original condition. That said, this beautiful tiger-maple Empire chest from the second quarter of the 19th century provided a rare opportunity to work both with an original finish and to provide new artwork, suggesting a piece rich in history. Originally a five-drawer chest, early in its life the piece was altered into a dining room cupboard by the replacement of the two bottom drawers with two paneled doors. By the time I obtained the piece, the doors were damaged, missing the center panels and some of the stiles (the frame sections around the panel). However, the good news was that much of the old finish on the rest of the piece, although rough, was restorable. After cleaning and restoring the finish on the body of the piece, I set to work on refurbishing the doors. This involved replacing the missing panels and three of the stiles, then grain-painting the new stiles to match the old finish. Finally, I could start painting on the new panels, now set off by the beautiful old finish. The trompe l’oeil still life set within the “interior” depicts enigmatic objects from our personal collection which evoke the curiosities, both scientific and artistic, of the cabinet’s 19th century epoch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588081407945-V2VGAV409SYSKTAMCMJ4/Coloratura+Furniture-Collector%E2%80%99s+Cabinet-Before.jpg Collector’s Cabinet https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Collector’s Cabinet https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/dream-cars daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083234672-F64H30UXZB5NZEM5TR2Z/Coloratura+Furniture-Dream+Cars.jpg Dream Cars - Dream Cars Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 30" x 44" x 18" Long, low and sleek, this razor-edged, chrome-handled, three-drawer chest provides the catalyst for exploring the parallels of furniture and automotive design in the 1950s. A montage of actual dream-car prototypes, period renderings and my own designs delineate aesthetic considerations similar to those of other areas of applied art of the time. The chest embodies general design elements that compare to period automotive styling: the floating case relates to the floating hood on some car models; the sides of the case end in blade edges, mimicking the sharp-edged styling in vogue in Detroit; and the angles of the piece, the recesses behind the handles, and the sharply tapered legs seem to be influenced by the futuristic space-age projections suggested in these dream car images. Photo by Eric Norbom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Dream Cars https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/memoria daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083488058-17JXQ8LJ7U35O87M0J6R/Coloratura+Furniture-Memoria.jpg Memoria - Memoria Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 41" x 36" x 18" In conversation over wine and boxes of family treasures, I realized the delight in Italian culture I shared with the owners of this heirloom desk could become the inspiration that combined my personal experience in travel to Italy, and that of the couple’s, with that of the original owner of the desk. The desk, a 1920s Colonial Revival, had come to the current owners from relatives who toured Italy in the 1920s. The idea was to create a collection of Italian arts that might have been assembled by a traveler during this time—prints, postcards, textiles, Majolica pottery, Venetian glass, even a Rembrandt Bugatti bronze elephant. The configuration for this assemblage of objects was accomplished in three ways. For the lid of the desk I looked to a favorite device of American and Italian trompe l’oeil painters—the use of a tack board to “hold” two dimensional materials. For the vertical sides and drawer fronts I was inspired by the cubbies and drawers of the desk’s interior, imagining a collector’s desk outfitted with cubbies, drawers, doors and shelves for the presentation of Italian momentos. For the interior of the desk, the lid opens to reveal an antique Venetian velvet displayed on the writing surface and the fitted cubbies lined with actual Florentine marbleized paper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083521104-IEGNKNWAACQ2FZBBGFX2/Coloratura+Furniture-Memoria+%28Top%29.jpg Memoria https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Memoria https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/rockefeller-center daily 0.75 2020-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083927677-5C9SKRV9QU5N3S7X3U3K/Coloratura+Furniture-Rockefeller+Center.jpg Rockefeller Center - Rockefeller Center Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 32" x 50" x 20" A brooding urban visage seen through shifting strokes of gray, two views of Rockefeller Center grace the facade of this late-1940s modernist console. Natty beige-and-metallic-colored stripes of gold and silver surround the case, framing and complimenting the pixilated images. A strongly architectural piece of furniture, Rockefeller Center represents a calculated goal: to bond image to object. Listed in Sotheby’s Important 20th Century Design catalog, 2008. Photo by Eric Norbom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Rockefeller Center https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/aerial daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588080912204-PPUNITS35QKZD2Y9CYBO/Coloratura+Furniture-Aerial.jpg Aerial - Aerial Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 47" x 35" x 19" contradictory, limitless, dreamy... Framed by an open window, two adults watch a young girl walk a high-wire, oblivious to their concern. blithe, capricious, exuberant... In the soft morning light the girl balances gracefully with the aid of an open umbrella while the woman nervously tenses her body, alarmed at what might happen. evolving, cryptic, tumultuous... Eventually the early years of childhood evolve into a more complex time of development. A range of conflicting emotions govern the days of the older child and contribute to the uncertain nights of the parents. But the world surrounding her is new and exciting, and as she steps lightly into this unknown she—and her emotions—are transformed into the adult she will become. The front of this four-drawer Deco chest shows the drama of this age-of-exploration scene. The sides are painted with a pattern of script, adjectives suggesting the complexity of the inner life of a child leaving childhood. optimistic, infinite, aerial... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Aerial https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/parable daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083690629-7NFYRZKXTN8UW53OYMYG/Coloratura+Furniture-Parable-Chest+of+Drawers.jpg Parable - Parable Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood seven pieces in suite Commissioned work can lead us into fascinating directions we might not have otherwise sought. Parable represents such a case. An inherited bedroom suite, the rich narrative of Eastern-European immigrant families assimilating into the bustling culture of twentieth-century New York City, and the entanglement of dreams, experience, memory and reality combine into a complex visual saga that is sophisticated yet mysterious. Across this 1940s suite of furniture gracefully stylized figures are caught in moments of real and imagined events. Inscribed within their shadows are memories of the family’s immigrant experience as well as cultural folktales. These painted figures are reminiscent of the sculptures of Elie Nadelman, a Polish Jew who, like the family, fled Europe in the early part of the century. I found his elegant, folk-and-classically-inspired sculptures of people an inspirational match to the refined forms of the bedroom suite. The ghostly coloration of his wooden pieces, adapted here, also suit the themes of memory and otherworldly spirits. The tops of the case pieces continue the celebration of heritage with painted versions of papirn-shnit or paper-cutting, embellished with micrography, an original Jewish art form in which a line of text forms the line of drawing. As painted, this suite of furniture, with its separate elements forming a whole, presents an interpretation of a history, not fact. But what is memory if not interpretation of the facts through time and experience, and especially through desire of how things should be? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083738926-XLHSEV701IX78FP4CN2U/Coloratura+Furniture-Parable-Desktop-Detail.jpg Parable https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588089951646-HWD5S4NZC6Q73SUFS8H7/Coloratura+Furniture-Parable-Headboard2.jpg Parable https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588089976009-CD2ACT1YFIWUM2JBJ7S4/Coloratura+Furniture-Parable-Headboard1.jpg Parable https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083769498-A2CAPKCCPHJIUVRWH3EW/Coloratura+Furniture-Parable-Chest+of+Drawers-Detail.jpg Parable https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Parable https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/dinamo daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082310365-Y9FSF58CRPOC276Y29SB/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo1.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082351667-TXSM8NWWO2EX18XOQWHU/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo2.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082371862-TFJCIZ3OTX2EEQHLK4OC/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo3.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082415085-STULVK131N9EGROH74MK/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo7.png Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082583107-N15NXIN5P90LCK7FE0QT/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo9.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082616729-L5L6FG38JX54V7UHQEU3/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo12.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082639408-RPKWLC3QE959FZ8HB8S1/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo10.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082661824-GAWG4WLU5NH3MF0JLXXY/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo11.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082870790-9YEDR7VCXW0E4DY2HHGY/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo18.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082895794-QSA09IKGNM6QZCPYABI5/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo8.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082916891-SETTLQN6ZEHJAVBU1W3H/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo14.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082943480-FCGZ7U630PAVZD2MP1Q2/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo5.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083002345-VQNEAG4CUAQPPN4QIP81/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo16.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083043822-R29M9GFNYBV2LIETZ3PR/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo15.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083064103-OKMS8FMIETX2OZCLES3V/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo17.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083127562-KSE9VELVT37UQ4FEHR1Z/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo6.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083151372-NSYSXYL3JL2M7GA4H5WB/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo4.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588083186861-LMR5UWYR04YIQ6N8SAOJ/Coloratura+Furniture-Dinamo13.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082171158-YM7F9JMJ5C036VDB7TKO/Coloratura+Furniture+in+Dinamo3.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082094477-5NP6DDMLN1SZERSW49UK/Coloratura+Furniture+in+Dinamo1.jpg Dinamo EXPERIENCE DINAMO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588082125546-S27AVCC70Q1I0T9JTB0M/Coloratura+Furniture+in+Dinamo2.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588091281042-BE1YGDA1EIPDG75VS8Y8/Coloratura+Furniture+in+Dinamo4.jpg Dinamo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Dinamo https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/selfie daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1588084083049-W4OESJQLXJS8J3SU5O3L/Coloratura+Furniture-Selfie.png Selfie - Selfie Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 32" x 60" x 19¼" The proportions of this long, sleek mid-century credenza suggest a surprisingly contemporary relationship—to a cell phone. And what do you do with a cell phone? Take selfies. I am not much into selfies but I am acutely (and personally) aware of the diminished visibility of older women in today’s culture and society. In this work I decided to photo-bomb a pair of young women taking a selfie during their visit to the beach. The older woman, in the distance also enjoying the sun, acts as a reminder of life at any age: I am here. I am still the person I have always been. Pay attention to me, too. Alex Katz, whose paintings influenced Selfie, did many portraits of friends and the famous, but his most beautiful and tender works have been his portraits of his wife Ada. Painting her through more than six decades of marriage, he has allowed her to be seen as she is, aging with dignity and grace. As we all should be seen. AVAILABLE Please Inquire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Selfie https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/ariacne daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589408265346-EX4UV8W78RQ0R7OAPU3F/Coloratura+Furniture-Ariacne.png Ariacne - Ariacne Catherine Roseberry enamel paint on wood 42¾" x 36" x 18¾" The old story: The weaver Arachne and the goddess Athena dueled at their looms to see who was best. Some wrote Athena won, but most report it was Arachne, who awed the goddess with her prowess. In vexation Athena turned Arachne into a spider, so she would weave all her days. This story: Unhappy with the results of the 2016 election, I wanted to show my dissatisfaction in my work, but most people don’t want to live with angry furniture. Somehow I had to turn a negative into a positive. So I thought of my friend’s story. Ariacne is a gifted composer and pianist, touted in her homeland of Cuba as a prodigy who performed for the Pope. But she chafed under governmental restrictions and fled her native country for the United States, to live in the murky world of an illegal immigrant. In the years since she has worked hard, honing her talents, playing her music, eventually being nominated for a Grammy. And she has her green card. This work celebrates our friend Ariacne, a woman of fire and passion, in the persona of Arachne, the weaver of such brilliance that she confounded authority. Stylistically, the work is inspired by the Swiss painter and printmaker Hans Erni, with the pattern on the top and sides a tribute to the German master weaver Gunta Stölzl. The owl (here an owl of Ariacne’s homeland) is an attribute of the goddess Athena. AVAILABLE Please Inquire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Ariacne https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/dining-table daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589411239017-JGDJ5C5A6DWUXY58R5WI/Coloratura+Furniture-Kelly+Table.png Kelly Dining Table - [Untitled Dining Table] Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 30" x 40" x 78" with leaf; 30" x 40" x 60" without leaf Most of my work references art and design history. I work on many styles and eras of furniture and have a particular interest in finding the convergences where “fine” art and furniture design meet. The form of this elegantly simple 1960s table is an example of where I see the possibility of that sort of art/design overlap. The gentle curves and straight edges of this table top put me in mind of the minimalist, shaped-canvas paintings of 1960s abstractionist Ellsworth Kelly. Was the designer of the table perhaps influenced by this master of exquisite edges? Or could it be that Kelly took notice and some degree of inspiration from the sublime subtlety of post-war Scandinavian table tops? Perhaps not, but nuanced minimalist forms were certainly being explored by both the abstract painting and furniture design worlds. These chicken-or-the-egg ponderings led me to the subject of the table: an exploration of 1960s hard-edged minimalist shapes and colors. When paying homage to a specific artist in my work, I don’t wish to quote too directly from their style, which led me to to render imagined three-dimensional versions of Kelly’s two-dimensional shaped canvasses. The resulting shapes resembled torqued “cubes” that referenced Kelly, yet were forms original to myself. These floating “cubes” painted in bold 1960s hues were carefully positioned to relate to the table’s edges, suggesting that they drift on and off the surface. I saw the background color of the table as white, suggesting both esoteric minimalist painting and the applied design world of the sixties (white shag carpeting, white vinyl go-go boots). It occurred to me that white was always the wall color of the art galleries where the paintings of Ellsworth Kelly had such contrasting impact. Which made me wonder; did the design of white gallery walls affect the paintings of Ellsworth Kelly or did minimalist paintings influence the design of white gallery walls… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Kelly Dining Table https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/conjuror-revealed daily 0.75 2023-10-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589494590546-2771GVD8QW4H3SYNCWT3/Coloratura+Furniture-Conjuror+Revealed.png Conjuror Revealed - The Conjuror Revealed Rob Womack enamel paint on masonite five panels, each 60” x 35" The opportunity to create an artistic vision for this wonderful 1927 Richmond theater, known at various points in its history as The Mosque, The Landmark, and The Altria, was a highlight of my career. When the call went out in 1994 for proposals to the Public Art Commission I dropped all else to focus on what it would take to elevate Coloratura to more operatic goals. As always, I started by extensive research of the history of the building, the 1920s desire for exotic, fantastical architecture and the Islamic architectural influences that inspired this jewel-like structure. These studies were useful in creating a tone for the project, but I was struggling for weeks trying to think of an overall theme. Sometimes I get lucky. I awoke one morning at three am with a vision. What I saw was the theatre itself encased in a crystal ball held aloft by a magician’s wand. The image suggested that something beyond a magician’s grandiose act had just occurred, miniaturizing not only the building into the sphere, but also the audience and the conjuror himself! The theme of magic seemed so perfect for this enchanted palace. I thought about the many performances I had seen there over the years: the Chinese Magic Circus, La Boheme, The Nutcracker, a lecture by Buckminster Fuller explaining his geodesic dome, the Cab Calloway Orchestra, and Miles Davis (a true wizard if ever there was one). Other magical imagery soon followed; a levitating opera singer in a gilded cage, mysterious vessels, and a Turkish acrobat somersaulting over a protozoa. All casting shadows into thin air and all freshly revealed by a tossed, floating veil. I saw The Conjuror Revealed in its position at the entrance to the Grand Tier as the opening act for the patrons entering the auditorium. It was a great honor to have my proposal chosen and to have my work be a part of this great Richmond landmark. Top photo by Eric Norbom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/e26c1da9-15a2-465d-b601-9eb356898225/IMG_4687Rtiny.jpg Conjuror Revealed The Conjuror Revealed, newly installed in the Davenport Special Collections Room at the Richmond Public Library’s Main Branch, 2022. PHOTO ABOVE RIGHT: The Conjuror Revealed in situ at the Landmark Theater, where it was on display until 2012. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg Conjuror Revealed https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/march2-obsession daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1589470001935-01J30AY1A905HVNR08AR/Coloratura+Furniture-Retrospective2.jpg March 2-Obsession March 2nd Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 34⅛” x 36” x 17½" Obsession Rob Womack enamel paint on wood 34” x 24½” x 18" A sensitive observer once said the imagery from Catherine’s paintings seemed to burst outward off of the furniture surfaces, while mine tended to recede deeply inward. Very true. The motif of uninhabited interiors set within a dream-like imaginary metropolis is a subject that has been with me a long time. Years before I started painting furniture I explored many variations of this theme through a series of oil pastel drawings. Marrying this previously explored subject to the surfaces of furniture has produced many new avenues of possibilities. The rendered interiors became something different from most traditional painted furniture with flat designs resting on the surface. Nor was it exactly trompe l’oeil painting (which is usually applied to walls) as the goals were not to “fool the eye” that these were actual spaces and objects. The paintings did seem to pull the viewer into the furniture. I refer to these sorts of works as “interior” pieces or “scenarios.” While working on the interior drawings I started to include homages within the settings to the artists that I most admired. Paintings on the walls by Hopper, de Chirico, Balthus, Boutet de Monvel, or Ben Nicholson would serve as muses to the tone of the rooms and counterpoints to the vistas glimpsed through the windows. Later, the idea of homages to artists became an element in nearly all of my works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b6a1640c3c16a27ddbbebf2/1573862660745-MRAVWQII5VW4W70XR35E/Catherine+and+Rob.jpg March 2-Obsession https://www.coloraturafurniture.com/new-page-2 daily 0.75 2023-11-28