Mark Rosenthal

Artist Statement

I create abstract images that have their origin in personal narrative. The titles are added last.
The stories are emotionally clear to me but remain mysterious in content. The excitement is in
finding characters or subjects in my narratives that arise spontaneously during the creative
process.
My work changed during lockdown. I developed a painting technique using thick and thin layers
of paint blotted with newspaper. The byproduct, oil monoprints on newspaper, were so
beautiful that I made collages of them.
The artwork I am submitting consists of five paintings and five collages. In my paintings I am
searching for clarity in chaos; in the collages, I am maintaining the chaos through careful
arrangement. The results are surprisingly similar.
I begin each painting with a color. I then layer thick and thin paint until an image begins to
appear with a clarity of light and space. As I run a straw brush through thick layers of color, I am
excited and terrified to see what may happen, never knowing which of the layers of wet paint
will dominate. I think often of Freud's metaphor for the subconscious as an archeological site
where various layers of history are uncovered simultaneously.