Vectors of Desire

Desire, in all of its complexity and excess, defined the American millennial moment. On the surface, to listen to the present political cacophony, things have changed, but not in the way people actually think and behave in private life. Though terror and trauma are said to have gained the upper hand, desire continues to provide the propulsive force of the culture. But how do you paint desire? How do you capture its richness, power, and meaning? This monograph addresses those questions in the process of considering more than fifty major oil paintings made by the American realist Terry Rodgers between 1990 and 2005. Because most of these spectacular paintings are in the hands of private collectors, the best way to get to know them is , where all of the images reproduced here in black and white are available in color. Rodgers, with upcoming shows scheduled in Amsterdam and Atlanta, is in the midst of a prodigiously productive period and is on the verge of attracting the international critical notice he deserves, and will certainly soon command, owing to his irresistible subject matter, his remarkable technical accomplishment, and his brilliant overall vision of painting and culture.