Main Space
Libby Rosa: The Matchbox
Curated by Zahar Vaks and Annamariah Knox
January 10 - February 28, 2026
Opening Reception Saturday January 10th, 2026 6-8pm

Ortega y Gasset Projects is pleased to present The Matchbox, a solo installation by artist Libby Rosa, in our Main Space, and curated by Zahar Vaks. The opening reception will be on Saturday, January 10th, 6-8pm, and the exhibition will be up until February 28, 2026.

The Matchbox is a solo installation featuring new paintings and sculptures by Libby Rosa that explores desire, containment, and impermanence. The gallery transforms into a matchbox filled with more than matches: an embedded, barred window, enlarged sewing pins (bent, twisted, and unused), and flame-shaped panel paintings.

The space is set ablaze with large-scale flame paintings made from irregularly-shaped wood panels, acrylic, and pastel. The flames, in warm reds, yellows, and cool blues, dance  along the walls, emitting sparks, and are pierced with pins. Rosa’s flames signify the coexistence of fear and beauty, as attraction and danger. The flames evoke vulnerability, making the gallery feel permeable, as an evocation of the fragility of our environment amid climate change, natural disasters, and human destruction.

A focal point in The Matchbox is the barred, flame-shaped window cut through the wall, that highlights Rosa’s interest in manipulating her environment. This cutout pays homage to Robert Gober’s 1992 installation Untitled at Glenstone Museum. Through the window, a used match sculpture is visible, and the gallery’s columns are transformed into striking surfaces with marks and abrasions from previous strikes, serving as evidence of the gallery’s conflagration. The other two oversized match sculptures in the show refer to different stages of change and (dis)functionality; the red match is unused, and the blue one is broken.

Oversized sewing pins (to scale with the matches) are stuck into some of the flame paintings, while others poke and weave through the walls. These sharpened aluminum pins, combined with the flames, comment on human attempts to control uncontrollable forces and reflect a desire to preserve fleeting moments—like butterflies pinned in shadow boxes. Many of the sculptures show damage or wear, such as bending or breakage. These imperfect tools reveal a fragility and humorously remind viewers of the delicate objects we rely on daily. The Matchbox’s symbolic flames and damaged objects highlight the delicate balance between destruction and beauty, and human efforts to master uncontrollable forces. These works prompt reflection on our vulnerable environment and the fleeting moments we seek to preserve.  

Libby Rosa (b. 1993, Pittsburgh, PA) is an artist, curator, and teacher working in Philadelphia, PA. Rosa creates paintings, sculptures, and site-specific installations featuring shape-shifting and embedded imagery that challenge the limitations of walls and framing devices, pushing the boundaries of built environments. She received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2015) and her MFA from Cornell University (2019). She’s been featured in Whitehot Magazine, Canvas Rebel, Artblog, David Zwirner’s Platform Interview: One Day, New American Paintings, Maake Magazine, and Inertia. She founded Peep Project in 2020, a nomadic gallery in Philadelphia, curates public art along the Philadelphia Waterfront with DRWC and teaches at Fordham University.

Zahar Vaks, (b.1983, Tashkent, Uzbekistan) Is a visual artist based in New York. He earned his BFA from Tyler School of Art, and his MFA from The Ohio State University. He has shown in New York, Philadelphia, Columbus, Las Vegas, Houston, Vienna, and on the island of Svalbard in Norway. In 2018 Zahar was invited to participate in the Rauschenberg Residency. He attended the Galveston Artist Residency from 2012-2013. He was recently awarded the Rema Hort Mann Foundation grant. Currently he is a co-director of Ortega y Gasset Projects (OyG), and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.