From artist-in-residence Clare Rojas's quasi-folk paintings and textiles to a series of video art concerned with surveillance and privacy issues in contemporary times, visitors to the Rose Art Museum should expect an eclectic range of art this fall. The two new exhibitions, Rojas's installation Hope Springs Eternal, and the collection "Balance and Power: Performance and Surveillance in Video Art," open Wednesday evening.The exhibitions are not so much collections of works as a complete visual experience. The staircase leading up to Rojas's installation hovers over an illuminated pool of pink water. A smiling nude sculpture of a man kneels on the landing of the staircase, holding a video screen and urinating into the pool. Rojas's installation consists of a quilt-like pattern of brightly colored wooden panels attached to three walls of the gallery at the top of the stairs.

Most noticeable in Rojas's art is its lack of texture. The colored panels are covered with cartoonish drawings of naked men in coy, often feminine poses and flat images of flowers and plants in wallpaper-like patterns. The sharp edges on the plants-along with the smug, arch expressions on the faces of the men and the brazen sexual imagery-provide a sinister edge in contrast with the twee cuteness of the bright colors and folksy quilt patterns.

On the right side of the wall, opposite the stairs, lurks an indeterminate cat-like animal evocative of the work of the Japanese pop artist Yoshitomo Nara. Rojas's installation includes a few malevolent-looking animals, some of which are painted to show texture. Both the animals and the people are painted with stylized, pointed feet, adding an almost Seussian quality aspect to the figures.

A few feminine figures appear in Hope Springs Eternal. Unlike Rojas's men, the women are fully clothed and wear vacant expressions on their wrinkled faces. At what seems like the end of the installation, a cabin-like house hovers in a white column above a sparse landscape depicting a grassy lawn spotted with piles of ash. A few women and a man with an incredibly long mustache plod along the lawn, seemingly in silence, while three terribly sad-looking owls with stylized red faces sit on the ashes, facing the viewer.

Below the installation, around the pink pool, hang a few individual works by Rojas. Many of these smaller paintings and textiles seem much more rustic and quaint and less sinister than the work upstairs. The downstairs works are something of a departure from the installation in that they are more diverse in medium and content. Some of these are a combination of textiles and painting, and seem more narrative and less sparse than the installation.

According to Raphaela Platow, the museum's chief curator, the two exhibits are "related in an interesting, unexpected way."

"I thought it would be really interesting to present, in conjunction with the [video art], an artist whose work is a lot about craftsmanship, colors and narratives, and just very different issues than what the Balance and Power show is about," she said.

Curator Michael Rush's "Balance and Power: Performance and Surveillance in Video Art" was not available for preview. The exhibition will feature works by such pioneers of the medium as Vito Acconci and Andy Warhol, as well as Paul Campus and other artists.

Rojas will perform Wednesday evening as her alter-ego, Peggy Honeywell. Honeywell's soft, feminine music recalls the Americana-folk music of Emmylou Harris and Jenny Lewis.

The opening reception for the Rose's fall exhibits will be held Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is free to members of the Brandeis community.