“2021 Lavazza Calendar The New Humanity”
The ocean flows with metaphors. It can be calm and tempestuous, liberating but also stifling. Water represents birth and renewal. For over 20 years, artist Christy Lee Rogers has been fixated on water and crafting images within it. Now, ART LABOR Gallery in Shanghai is presenting a major retrospective of her work titled Aqueous Renaissance, which highlights her singular vision of photographing bodies and fabric underwater with a grandeur that recalls Baroque-era paintings.
“For me, water has always been both chaos and freedom,” Rogers tells My Modern Met. “It strips away control and asks us to see ourselves in a different light. That’s where my stories begin.” Her photographs are impressive both in their scale and their drama. The dimly lit waters feature figures suspended within. They are draped in fabric that billows beneath the surface, and the material creates forms that take on their own personality, often obscuring the viewer while becoming characters in Rogers’ tales.
Growing up in Hawaii, Rogers found that water was “her stage and her muse.” To create her works, she places her models in swimming pools at night and carefully choreographs their moves to “recall the intensity of Caravaggio and the sweeping motion of Rubens.” Although her work is inspired by artists and movements that are hundreds of years old, her oeuvre feels wholly contemporary.
Rogers’ piece titled The New Humanity is a great example of this duality. The 58-inch square print features figures that are seemingly one mass, visible only by their heads, hands, or feet. They hold scarves and wear loose garments. Within the water, the fabrics float away from them, creating a “bleeding” effect. Among the blooms of colors are signs of modern times—tattoos on one model, a halter top on another. In this case, fully appreciating Rogers’ contemporary grandeur comes when viewing it from the context of much older art.
Aqueous Renaissance is now on view at ART LABOR Gallery through October 26, 2025.
For over 20 years, artist Christy Lee Rogers has been fixated on water and crafting images within it.
“Destiny”
“Primavera”
“Our Hopes and Expectations”
Now, ART LABOR Gallery in Shanghai is presenting a major retrospective of her work titled Aqueous Renaissance, which highlights her singular vision of photographing bodies and fabric underwater with a grandeur that recalls Baroque-era paintings.
“Aphrodite and Ishtar”
“Resonance”
“Forget Me Not”
“For me, water has always been both chaos and freedom,” Rogers tells My Modern Met. “It strips away control and asks us to see ourselves in a different light. That’s where my stories begin.”
“Candy”
“Tenderness”
“Sea of Tranquility”
The waters feature figures draped in fabric that billows beneath the surface. The material creates forms that take on their own personality, often obscuring the viewer while becoming characters in Rogers’ tales.
“A New Beginning”
“Harmony 1300”
“Venus Rising”
“The Angel Closes Her Eyes 16 Bit”
“Panthera Onca”
Aqueous Renaissance is now on view at ART LABOR Gallery through October 26, 2025.
“PH5”
“Love Wounds and Marks”