John Roloff

Sentient Terrains

We are pleased to announce John Roloff: Sentient Terrains. 

Sentient Terrains presents a series of new ceramic projects, assemblages, and related site studies. The ceramic works as ship/vector objects investigate metabolism, climate, and transmutation and are a continuation of the Land/Sea series shown in the gallery in 2019. Site studies and assemblages in the form of proposals, video, and diagrammatic expressions examine holistic and systemic definitions of ceramics related to specific places, materials, and geologic time. Flags exploring metabolism, transmutation, and correlations between living and non-living systems are suspended from the walls and activate the gallery with subtle movement. Two large-scale photographic images of Medieval/Anthropocene characters anchor the space as witnesses. 

For the past 50 years, John’s work has been fundamentally about ecology in an expanded frame. His understanding of land, sea, and atmosphere engages interrelated cycles of natural and man-made materials and processes. This world view, originating in studies of the earth sciences, was developed through the practice of ceramics, installations, and conceptual proposals. His practice embodies material and conceptual transmutation as a symbiotic merging of physical matter and living systems across geologic time as an emergent paradigm he defines as global metabolism

John’s practice embraces an integration of ecology, ontology, self-organizing systems, energy flow, and aesthetics with expanded ceramics as protagonist, engaging narratives that seek to transcend the dichotomy of the living and non-living. The retrospective exhibition of 2019 surveyed John’s decades-long investigation of geologic time, sites, and other natural phenomena. 

Please join us for a reception with the artist on Saturday, May 13 from 4-6pm in our upstairs gallery at Minnesota Street Project.

Sentient Terrains is on view through Saturday, July 1. 

John Roloff studied geology and art at the University of California, Davis in the 1960s and received his MFA from California State University, Humboldt in 1973. In addition to numerous environmental, site-specific installations in the US, Canada, and Europe, John’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, UC Berkeley Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, Photoscene Cologne, the Venice Architectural and Art Biennales, The Snow Show in Kemi, Finland, and Artlantic: Wonder, Atlantic City, NJ. 

John’s ceramic and related works are included in collections of The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA; Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco, CA; Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI; Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred, NY; University Art Museum, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Newport Harbor Museum, Newport Beach, CA; Museum of American Crafts, New York, NY; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Lannon Foundation, Palm Beach, FL; Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Weisman Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV; Colorado Collection, University of Colorado Art Museum, Boulder, CO; Viart Corporation; Robert Pfannebecker, Lancaster, PA; Hootkin Collection, New York, NY; Rene deRosa Collection, Napa, CA; Djerassi Foundation, Woodside, CA, and Fung/Talley Collection, Carmel, Woodside, CA, among numerous additional private collections. Public art works that explore geologic and related concepts can be found at sites such as: Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, CA; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; I-5 Colonnade Park, Seattle, WA, and Stanford University, Stanford, CA. 

John has received three Artist's Visual Arts Fellowships from the NEA; a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship; a California Arts Council grant for visual artists, and a Bernard Osher Fellowship at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA. He is Professor Emeritus of Sculpture/Ceramics at San Francisco Art Institute. John lives and works in Oakland, CA. 

Works in the Exhibition

John Roloff Original Depositional Environment
John Roloff
Original Depositional Environment
2001-2021
Inkjet print on paper with algae on rag paper
33h x 43w in
Photography by 
John Roloff San Francisco Wharf Complex: Coral Orchid/Seamount, 2012, and San Francisco Wharf Complex: Sea Knot (Meso- zoic/ Holocene Seas), 2012
John Roloff
San Francisco Wharf Complex: Coral Orchid/Seamount, 2012, and San Francisco Wharf Complex: Sea Knot (Meso- zoic/ Holocene Seas), 2012
2012
inkjet print on paper
40h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff San Francisco Wharf Complex/American Industrial Center/ Towards a Geologic Narrative
John Roloff
San Francisco Wharf Complex/American Industrial Center/ Towards a Geologic Narrative
2015
single channel HD video, silent, 00:5:30
Photography by 
John Roloff San Francisco Wharf Complex/American Industrial Center/ Towards a Geologic Narrative (Data Reservoir/Sheared)
John Roloff
San Francisco Wharf Complex/American Industrial Center/ Towards a Geologic Narrative (Data Reservoir/Sheared)
2015
inkjet print on paper
Photography by 
John Roloff Expanded Ceramics: Plow/Nutrient Studies // Ceramics/ Earth Reversal/Peat Extraction
John Roloff
Expanded Ceramics: Plow/Nutrient Studies // Ceramics/ Earth Reversal/Peat Extraction
2021
inkjet print on paper
24h x 28w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Site Study I: Expanded Ceramics/Museum Displacement/ Natural/Agrarian Systems
John Roloff
Site Study I: Expanded Ceramics/Museum Displacement/ Natural/Agrarian Systems
2021
inkjet print on paper
24h x 48w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Site Study II: Expanded Ceramics/Museum Displacement/ Natural/Agrarian Systems (Inversion)
John Roloff
Site Study II: Expanded Ceramics/Museum Displacement/ Natural/Agrarian Systems (Inversion)
2021
inkjet print on paper
24h x 48w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Study III: Expanded Ceramics/Earth/Biome Ship Vectors/ Anthropocene/Tertiary/Quaternary
John Roloff
Study III: Expanded Ceramics/Earth/Biome Ship Vectors/ Anthropocene/Tertiary/Quaternary
2021
inkjet print on paper
24h x 48w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Chlorophyll)
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Chlorophyll)
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Hematite/Hemoglobin)
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Hematite/Hemoglobin)
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Hemoglobin/Chlorophyll) I
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Hemoglobin/Chlorophyll) I
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Hemoglobin/Chlorophyll) II
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Hemoglobin/Chlorophyll) II
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Iron Rain/Hemoglobin) I
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Iron Rain/Hemoglobin) I
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Iron Rain/Hemoglobin) I
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Iron Rain/Hemoglobin) I
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Lava/Orchid)
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Lava/Orchid)
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Serpentinite/Chlorophyll)
John Roloff
Meta-site Flag: Vascular Facies (Serpentinite/Chlorophyll)
2023
duplex printed satin, canvas, grommets
42h x 96w in
Photography by 
John Roloff Vector Ship Transect: Vascular Mantle/Ancient Sunlight
John Roloff
Vector Ship Transect: Vascular Mantle/Ancient Sunlight
2023
ceramic, stains, fused silica, glass, silicone, wood, acrylic vitrine
21h x 56 1/2w x 12d in
Photography by 
John Roloff Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Ancient Sunlight I
John Roloff
Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Ancient Sunlight I
2023
ceramic, stains, fused silica, glass, silicone, wood, acrylic vitrine
21h x 56 1/2w x 12d in
Photography by 
John Roloff Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Ancient Sunlight II
John Roloff
Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Ancient Sunlight II
2023
ceramic, stains, fused silica, glass, silicone, wood, acrylic vitrine
21h x 56 1/2w x 12d in
Photography by 
John Roloff Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Ancient Sunlight III
John Roloff
Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Ancient Sunlight III
2023
ceramic, stains, fused silica, glass, silicone, wood, acrylic vitrine
21h x 56 1/2w x 12d in
Photography by 
John Roloff Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Iron Rain I
John Roloff
Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Iron Rain I
2023
ceramic, stains, fused silica, glass, silicone, wood, acrylic vitrine
21h x 56 1/2w x 12d in
Photography by 
John Roloff Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Iron Rain II
John Roloff
Vector Ship: Vascular Sea/Iron Rain II
2023
ceramic, stains, fused silica, glass, silicone, wood, acrylic vitrine
21h x 56 1/2w x 12d in
Photography by 
John Roloff Study: Land/Sea Ship Terranes/Western Cordillera
John Roloff
Study: Land/Sea Ship Terranes/Western Cordillera
concept circa 1976 - updated 2020
inkjet print on paper
60h x 36w in
Photography by