For Samantha Rosenwald’s debut solo exhibition at JDJ, the artist created a suite of paintings that reflect a narrative taking place within the interior of an apartment building.

Cellar Door consists of largely monochromatic colored pencil on canvas works that reveal voyeuristic glimpses into domestic interior spaces.

The occupants, including the artist herself, appear to be wrestling with their own demons, especially as seen in the centerpiece of the exhibition, Hell is Other People, 2021.

Other works appear to be close-range vignettes of sinister creatures lurking within the building.

Rosenwald’s medium of choice for the past several years, colored pencils bring a low-brow sensibility to the traditions of artwork on canvas, but their effect also results in highly textured, unexpectedly tactile surfaces.

These works were made during a period in which we’ve largely retreated to our private spaces to protect ourselves from the pandemic, and several of the paintings reflect scenes from the artist’s personal experiences during this time.

It is not uncommon that the home, which we consider to be a place of sanctuary, can also be where torment can thrive.

This rings especially true during the heightened level of stress that we have been experiencing individually and as a society, as our pre-pandemic sense of security continues to unravel.

Sometimes the evils within the home can be literal — as one example, the American Journal of Emergency Medicine reported that domestic violence cases increased 33% globally in 2020.

Other times, it can be metaphorical: a sense of home as a belief system created from our past experiences, a constructed “truth” that masquerades as protection but in reality creates fear and isolation. It can take a tremendous amount of courage to step outside of our known realities to confront the darkness that is present in our everyday lives.

Samantha Rosenwald (b. 1994 Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She holds an MFA from California College of the Arts (San Francisco) and a BA in Art History from Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY). Recent solo exhibitions include Eve Leibe Gallery (London, UK), Annarumma Gallery, (Naples, Italy), Ballon Rouge Club (Brussels, Belgium), and Arsenal Contemporary (New York, NY).