Terry Rose’s paintings walk a fine line between abstraction and representation. 

On the one hand, his paintings are careful arrangements of shapes and colors, and subtle

manipulations of perceived space. But on the other, the ambiguous shapes suggest a

host of things that we know well: cells and suns, clouds and spores. 

The spaces in which these forms exist are likewise suggestive of environments, 

atmospheres, or dark voids. But the fugitive identities of the shapes and spaces, 

set up an uncertainty about their very state of being.

shown: Dubai Dreaming, commission, St. Regis Dubai

text: Nick Capasso, Curator, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park

Lincoln, Massachusetts