rosenberg_berlinfaces

Berlin Faces (triptych)
2008, oil on panel, 40 x 22 inches

rosenberg_book

Book of Days
2008, oil on panel, 12 x 12 inches

rosenberg_woodstonebone

Wood, Stone, Bone
2004-5, oil on panel, four 1 x 10 inch panels

Artist Statement

My work has been greatly influenced by urban environments. I respond to the architecture of a place as it bears its own history, of its time and place when constructed.  A building is also the witness of subsequent periods from those who have lived their lives within to those who have briefly passed through its walls. For me, though inorganic, buildings contain remnants of a human touch.

Though based in New York City, I also gather much of my imagery from my travels. In fact, bits and pieces of places I have seen are deconstructed and reconfigured in seamlessly assembled compositions. Objects, images, architectural details are placed within a newly invented context, as I seek to transform even the mundane into the strange and intriguing.

The juxtaposition of flat planes of saturated color with these finely painted details more clearly defines the abstract nature of the paintings while simultaneously emphasizing the evocativeness of the imagery. The trompe I’oeil images become more than mere depictions of reality, with the shapes of pure color a reminder of the identity of the painted surface.

I have been dealing with the ideas of multi-panels for a number of years. With its sequential aspect, spaces fluctuate between the surface and glimpses behind it. Ambiguity is further created through unusual combinations of perspectives, mixtures of light sources, and unsettling color choices. By using the relatively small scale, I can draw the viewer into a minute representation of a world that offers reality with a twist. This invites an intimate, thought provoking relationship between participant and the work. It is an immersion in spaces that are uninhabited, uninhabitable, a discovery of the unexpected. One’s sense of order and proportion is challenged, as the implied presence of human life coupled with the subtly disturbing images evokes an uneasy response and re-evaluation in the viewer, who begins to realize that things are not what they seem.

Website

http://www.maddyrosenberg.net/