URBAN BOP

Arrangements in Jazz

In URBAN BOP, Roth channels the rhythmic spirit of jazz into a series of paintings shaped by emotion, energy, and improvisation. The works draw from the atmosphere of the city, its worn textures, low-lit clubs, and the pulse of sound — where music, movement, and feeling blur into a single experience. Roth’s compositions unfold through layered fields of color interrupted by spontaneous brushwork, searching lines, and scratched-in marks that appear, disappear, and reemerge. Forms move through atmospheric space, cutting across a geometry of color like soun. Painted collage elements create subtle shifts in form that surface and dissolve, creating a quiet sense of motion. Fragments of words and letters drift across the surface, riffing moments of tension, rhythm, and pause. The surfaces feel worn-in and lived-with, shaped by repetition, memory, and improvisation — charged yet restrained. The paintings both structured and instinctive, echo jazz’s balance of discipline and freedom. Jazz is a constant presence in his studio— Miles, Bird, Dizzy and Coltrane often play late into the night, with rhythm and improvisation finding their way into the work. URBAN BOP reflects Roth’s intuitive approach to abstraction, geometry and gesture. Roth seeks to capture its inner resonance — the emotional charge, the sense of movement, and the way jazz speaks to the soul.

“It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.” - Miles Davis