THE ROSE CYCLE, 1998
The Rose Cycle is comprised of subseries Fall (3 works), Winter (3 works), Spring (3 works), and Summer (9 works). The works use pencil and stick on assorted embroidered linens belonging to Henry’s mother, which he discovered in her house. The series’ title is derived from Henry’s 25-year cultivation of rose bushes. In this series, Henry references Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du Mal”, touching on themes of intimacy and nostalgia. The reference, Henry notes in his writing, sparks a trove of playful idioms drawn from the depicted flowers. The work becomes a contemplation of Henry’s own personal history inhabited within the physical “body” of the embroidered canvas. Fragile, malleable, and so threadbare, the fabric exposes the bony structure of the stretcher bars, a corporeal comparison between the intangible and tangible that Henry often grapples with.
