Through a sculptural practice that melds industrial and craft processes, Rosha Yaghmai’s work utilizes these provocations to alter the familiar. She uses materials such as silicon and resin for their skin-like translucency and bodily, fleshy quality. Yaghmai contrasts this softness with hard mediums like cast plaster or fiberglass to contradict the expected. Her work, in exhibition form, often takes shape as an assemblage of fragmented objects that evoke an environment of estrangement. Yaghmai is most interested in exploring themes of the psychedelic that includes feelings of transcendence and otherness. Using architectural structures like gates, doorways, courtyard walls, she hope to push the feeling of passing through, telepathic transformation or metamorphosis. Yaghmai was the subject of a solo exhibition at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco in January 2019. She was also included in 2018 iteration of Made in LA at the Hammer Museum curated by Erin Christovale and Anne Ellegood.
Rosha Yaghmai lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She received her MFA from CalArts in 2007. Solo and 2 person exhibitions include: Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, CA; Kayne Griffin, Los Angeles, CA; The Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA; Marlborough Contemporary, New York, NY; Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, NY; Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA; Weiss Berlin, Germany; Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles, CA; Tif’s Desk, Los Angeles/Miami; and Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA amongst others. Selected group shows include: Made in LA curated by Erin Christovale and Anne Ellegood, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The Domestic Plane curated by Amy Smith-Stewart, and David Adamo, Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Mad World curated by Ali Subotnick, Marciano Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Virginia Woolf: An exhibition inspired by her Writings curated by Laura Smith, Tate ST. Ives, Cornwall, UK; The Annex, M+B, Los Angeles, CA; Hanging With Friends curated by Diana Molzan, The Finley, Los Angeles, CA; California Curse curated by Pejman Shojaei, Mothers Beach, CA; KNOWLEDGES curated by Christina Ondrus, Mount Wilson Observatory, Alta Dena, CA; Present Future curated by Sohrab Mohebbi, Artissima Turin, Italy; THE STAND IN (OR A GLASS OF MILK) curated by Lauren Mackler and Alex Gaty, Public Fiction, Los Angeles, CA; 9/11 15 Years Later, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA; ET IN ARCADIA EGO, Estacion Tijuana, Tijuana, Mexico; Seeing is Believing curated by Carol Cheh, Cal State Long Beach, CA; and HOT ROCK, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland amongst others. Yaghmai is a Terra Foundation Fellow, Giverny, France (2009), a Villa Aurora Fellow, Berlin, Germany (2016), a recipient of the California Community Foundation grant (2019), The Chara Schreyer Arts Initiative (2020), and the Bullseye Glass Residency (2021).
Born in 1978 Santa Monica, CA. Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
EDUCATION
2007
M.F.A., California Institute of The Arts, Valencia, CA
2001
B.F.A., Visual Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Tif Sigfrids, Athens, GA (Forthcoming)
2021
Rosha Yaghmai: Drifters, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
Rosha Yaghmai: Afterimages, Kayne Griffin, Los Angeles, CA
2019
Rosha Yaghmai: Miraclegrow, curated by Leila Grothe, The Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA
2017
Postcards & Pipes, Marlborough Contemporary, New York, NY
The Courtyard, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA
2016
NADA Miami Beach, Miami Beach, FL
Night Walker, Cleopatra’s, New York, NY
Future Present, Artissima, Turin, Italy
Waxworks, Weiss, Berlin, Germany
2015
Easy Journey to other planets, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA
Rosha Yaghmai, Tyler Wood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011
Ever let the fancy roam, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Everyone’s happy in space (0 gravity), TAT, Berlin, Germany
2009
actually, actually, actually, death is a problem, Terra foundation for American Art, Giverny, France
2007
I am here, where are you?, California institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHBITIONS
2022
Gatherings, presented by LAND, in collaboration with Visionary Women, Los Angeles State Historic Park, Los Angeles, CA (Forthcoming)
2021
The Youngest Day, Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
Psychosomatic, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA
Your Presence is Encouraged, curated by Isabel Yellin, Highland Park, Los
2020
Sculpture, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA
2019
Undertones: Biomorphic Art in Los Angeles, curated by Lindsay Preston Zappas, University Art Gallery at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA
Henry Is Blue, curated by Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer and Despina Stokou, Fine Art Haus, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Mad World, curated by Ali Subotnick, Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Made in LA, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Objects Like Us (The Domestic Plane), curated by Amy Smith-Stewart and David Adamo, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT
Virginia Wolf, curated by Laura Smith, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, England; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, England, United Kingdom; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
2017
Annex, Los Angeles, CA
Hanging with friends!, curated by Diana Molzan, The Finley, Los Angeles, CA
Nerve Center, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA
California Curse, curated by Pejman Shojaei, ARTsea, Mother’s Beach, CA
KNOWLEDGES at Mount Wilson Observatory, inaugural Artist Project Grant from the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA
L.A. should die vor Glüc, Just Married, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Caviar, Central Park, Los Angeles, CA
9/11 Fifteen Years, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Volitionaries, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles, CA
Ground Truths, Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
OBJECTIVE, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Phase 1: An Unbiased Teal, Phase 2: An Unabated Isle, Phase 3: An Unstable Idea, Public Fiction, Los Angeles, CA
Honesty, Space 5220, Los Angeles, CA
Kiss Me Deadly, Paradise Row Gallery, London, UK
2009
Ateliers Portes Ouvertes, Terra Foundation for American Art, Giverny, France
Marcos Rios, Aaron Sandnes, Rosha Yaghmai, Thomas Soloman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Glue, Paper, Scissors, The Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008
SLAB: Old LA Zoo, curated by Slab, Slab (In conjunction with ART2102), Los Angeles, CA
Half-Life, 25 Emerging LA Artists, LACE, Los Angeles, CA
ET IN ARCADIA EGO, curated by Kris Kuramitsu, Estacion Tijuana, Tijuana, Mexico
(Dis)Concert, curated by Carol Ann Klonarides, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
2007
HOT ROCK, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
Viva Curanderos, Kontainer, Los Angeles, CA
THE BOMB!!!!, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
Exquisite Acts & Everyday Rebellion, California institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
FOR EVER, curated by Clara Kim and Eunjie Joo, 951 Mateo, Los Angeles, CA
California Stars, Eveningside Dr, Val Verde, CA
Pink II, curated by Heather Harmon, Santa Monica Studios, Santa Monica, CA
Material Girls, curated by Andi Campognone, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2006
Matter of Fact, curated by Homeira Goldstein and Heather Harmon, Manhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach, CA
Seeing is Believing, curated by Carol Cheh, Cal State Long Beach. Long Beach, CA
RESIDENCIES
2020
Bullseye Glass Residency, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Terra Foundation Residency, Giverny, France
AWARDS
2020
Chara Schreyer Arts Initiative
2019
California Community Foundation Fellowship
2009
Terra Foundation Fellowship
Skadden-Arps Award, Art25
COLLECTIONS
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA