Barbara Rosen
Artist Statement
What is abstract art? Like music, it allows us to transcend our own world and experience a total different reality. Through the use of color, line and form, abstract art is capable of transmitting expressive, historical, even philosophical information. But first, we need to cultivate the skills of imagination, non-concrete thinking, and intuition. And we need to trust our instinctive reactions, how we feel when we first confront a work of art that is foreign to our habitual or conventional way of seeing the world. There is so much that we miss.
My painting began in play, from the pure pleasure of applying color and paint to paper and canvas. When I first began to paint my goal was to see and really observe the simplicity and the clarity of things in life. That attempt was repeated again and again. In a certain painting a decision was made to carry the energy of some exquisite yellow flowers beyond the boundaries of the visual. Being open to intuition and possibility and finding the balance between color and form became my goal. That was my liberation surpassing my original vision.
I see the abstract everywhere; the stones in a stream, rushing water, the mold on a tree, a cloud in a landscape, and the landscape itself. At first, when I returned to painting, my abstractions required only watercolor and inks. Gradually, I added colored pencils, pastels, and collage, as the need arose. For the last fifteen years I have used mainly handmade paper. And finally I moved from watercolor to acrylic for the greater flexibility I found in the new medium.
Education
UCLA – 9/63 – 9/66
San Francisco Art Institute – 9/66 – 1969 BFA in painting/ pottery
Selected Exhibition History
2005 The Kleinert Gallery, group show An Abstract Vision
2003 – 2005 Represented by Woodstock Gallery of Art
April 2002 – Represented by Art Forms
Jan – February 2001 – Albert Shahinian Gallery, Rhinebeck, NY – 2 woman show
Sept.-Nov. 1994 – Elena Zang Gallery, Woodstock, NY
1989 – 1998 – Ann Leonard Gallery, Woodstock, NY – represented for three periods of six months.
Solo Shows
July – Sept 2015 Dog House Gallery – An Abstract Vision – Woodstock, New York. This show was to raise money and awareness to help publish my book on Lyme disease: Lyme Disease: A 21st Century Epidemic
May 5 – June 30, 2005 Richart Chocolate and Design Gallery, 7 East 55th St, NYC
March 5 – April 30, 2005 – Coldwell Banker Realty, Kingston, NY
Bank of America, Woodstock, NY
July 4, 2004 – Fleet Bank, Woodstock
July – August 2001 – Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
May – June 1994 – Mount Gulian Museum, Dutchess County
Collections
Beneath the River, Homage, Sun Rises Each Day – In the corporate collection of Pfizer – January 2004
Worlds In Collision I & 2 – In the Law Offices of Phyllis R. Colman, Los Angeles, Calif. Feb 2004
Publications
2002 – 2003 – New Art International
2015 – Woodstock Times
Awards
1965 – Internal Scholarship – UCLA
1968 – Internal Scholarship – San Francisco Art Institute
2002 – Woodstock Artist Association and Museum – Earth Waiting, Red Tide – Honorable Mention
2002 – Changes (Rauschenberg) – grant
2002 – Gottlieb Foundation – grant
Member of the Following Organizations:
Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
Current Representation:
Topka, Woodstock, New York, 845 679 0500
Artist Contact Info:
rosen12498@gmail.com
barbararosenart.com
What is abstract art? Like music, it allows us to transcend our own world and experience a total different reality. Through the use of color, line and form, abstract art is capable of transmitting expressive, historical, even philosophical information. But first, we need to cultivate the skills of imagination, non-concrete thinking, and intuition. And we need to trust our instinctive reactions, how we feel when we first confront a work of art that is foreign to our habitual or conventional way of seeing the world. There is so much that we miss.
My painting began in play, from the pure pleasure of applying color and paint to paper and canvas. When I first began to paint my goal was to see and really observe the simplicity and the clarity of things in life. That attempt was repeated again and again. In a certain painting a decision was made to carry the energy of some exquisite yellow flowers beyond the boundaries of the visual. Being open to intuition and possibility and finding the balance between color and form became my goal. That was my liberation surpassing my original vision.
I see the abstract everywhere; the stones in a stream, rushing water, the mold on a tree, a cloud in a landscape, and the landscape itself. At first, when I returned to painting, my abstractions required only watercolor and inks. Gradually, I added colored pencils, pastels, and collage, as the need arose. For the last fifteen years I have used mainly handmade paper. And finally I moved from watercolor to acrylic for the greater flexibility I found in the new medium.
Education
UCLA – 9/63 – 9/66
San Francisco Art Institute – 9/66 – 1969 BFA in painting/ pottery
Selected Exhibition History
2005 The Kleinert Gallery, group show An Abstract Vision
2003 – 2005 Represented by Woodstock Gallery of Art
April 2002 – Represented by Art Forms
Jan – February 2001 – Albert Shahinian Gallery, Rhinebeck, NY – 2 woman show
Sept.-Nov. 1994 – Elena Zang Gallery, Woodstock, NY
1989 – 1998 – Ann Leonard Gallery, Woodstock, NY – represented for three periods of six months.
Solo Shows
July – Sept 2015 Dog House Gallery – An Abstract Vision – Woodstock, New York. This show was to raise money and awareness to help publish my book on Lyme disease: Lyme Disease: A 21st Century Epidemic
May 5 – June 30, 2005 Richart Chocolate and Design Gallery, 7 East 55th St, NYC
March 5 – April 30, 2005 – Coldwell Banker Realty, Kingston, NY
Bank of America, Woodstock, NY
July 4, 2004 – Fleet Bank, Woodstock
July – August 2001 – Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
May – June 1994 – Mount Gulian Museum, Dutchess County
Collections
Beneath the River, Homage, Sun Rises Each Day – In the corporate collection of Pfizer – January 2004
Worlds In Collision I & 2 – In the Law Offices of Phyllis R. Colman, Los Angeles, Calif. Feb 2004
Publications
2002 – 2003 – New Art International
2015 – Woodstock Times
Awards
1965 – Internal Scholarship – UCLA
1968 – Internal Scholarship – San Francisco Art Institute
2002 – Woodstock Artist Association and Museum – Earth Waiting, Red Tide – Honorable Mention
2002 – Changes (Rauschenberg) – grant
2002 – Gottlieb Foundation – grant
Member of the Following Organizations:
Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
Current Representation:
Topka, Woodstock, New York, 845 679 0500
Artist Contact Info:
rosen12498@gmail.com
barbararosenart.com
