COMP Studios Winter 2026

Opening Reception: First Friday, December 4
Artist's Talk with both artists: December 12 at 1pm

Hours

Open Studios: Saturday December 5, 12-5pm & Saturday December 12, 12-5pm
*contact artists directly to arrange studio visits at other times

Current Artists

David Rose (he/they)
During the residency, David Rose will expand his ongoing Ponies under Fascism series through new paintings and a short film that use pastel ponies as autobiographical and political stand-ins. Blending absurdist humor with personal narrative, the work critiques contemporary bigotry and propaganda while exploring identity, belonging, and the experience of being a transgender immigrant today.

Ian Williams (he/him)
While at COMP, the artist will create a new series of large-scale acrylic paintings that expand the visual and conceptual investigations of his recent work. Working at an ambitious scale for the first time, the project will explore how process, composition, and materiality evolve through larger formats while developing a cohesive body of work intended for exhibition.

About the Artists

David Rose (he/they) is a first-generation American; his mother was born in Monterrey, Mexico. He has witnessed both ends of privilege and marginalization, designing nuanced advocacy in his practice. Rose was born in Denver, Colorado. Throughout his academic career, Rose built his visual language on heavy historical research and aesthetic theory. From working as a gallery assistant to his daily practice as a filmmaker, design and curation are core features of his practice. Rose focuses on storytelling through his artwork with the use of dramatic animals, dynamic figures, and expressive portraiture. Rose is currently pursuing an MFA in Fine Arts Studio Painting at Rochester Institute of Technology. He graduated with a BFA inn New Media Art at Pennsylvania State University.@davero.se

Ian Williams is an artist and maker living in Rochester, NY. After receiving a BFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design in 2013, Ian worked for many years as a bookbinder and exhibit fabricator. Ian’s fabrication work has been seen in numerous institutions and museums, including the American Museum of Natural History, the Providence Children’s Museum, the Dubai Museum of the Future, and Nike World Headquarters. In 2016 he worked as a studio assistant to marble sculptor Dario Tazzioli in Modena Italy, which sparked an interest in stone carving that led him to starting his traditional dry stone masonry business Lo Faro Stonework in 2021. His outdoor stacked stone sculptures can be found across Rochester, and he currently maintains a painting practice. @iwillstudios

About COMP Studios

COMP Studios provides artists with inexpensive and free, temporary space to advance their practice and engage the public. This initiative expands RoCo's work to support artists, advances the ecosystem for contemporary art in Downtown Rochester; and builds upon grassroots efforts like First Friday, Rochester’s Citywide Gallery Night, and 2019's Current Seen. In addition to providing work space, this initiative will boost an artist's access to audiences and expose the public to an artist’s latest artwork. COMP Studios is Creative Opportunities Made Public. In 2024 COMP was located offsite at a nearby office building and supported by Chashama and The New York State Council for the Arts. In 2025 we moved this program back to the 2nd Floor of RoCo's main facility at 137 East Avenue.