PAT ROSENMEIER

 

shut your eyes and see

“…what is important to him is allowing form to arise and to disappear, to emerge and to subside, the transition, the process of flowing, the constant becoming and passing away of forms in contrast to a definite delineation and fixation from within. The line thereby becomes intangible, not only directly, but also indirectly.” What Max Raphael has written about the painting of Goya and Frans Hals also applies to me. Painting as a constant modeling with color. I paint with quite moist acrylic paint; the canvas lies upon the floor, and the distance to the picture is an arm’s length. It is in this situation that I make my decisions. To stop or to continue painting. When the picture has dried, it looks different. The less the contrasts between the colors are, the less the results can be predicted. I allow myself to be surprised or inspired to rework sections. With the black paintings, the surprise, but also the risk, are the greatest. One paints, so to speak, in the no man’s land of invisibility. With each layer, the degree of nuances increases and the level of visibility decreases. Now the game really gets underway. Up to this point, everything is only routine and technique. Now the risky decisions must be made. Sometimes sections of the picture implore me to continue to work there. Then, at times over night, a diffuse liquid expanse of paint turns into a prancing Labrador with big black eyes, as if by Rembrandt. Sometimes the only thing that helps is loosening. Black always gives you a chance.

statement for the exhibition catalogue “back to black”, kestnergesellschaft 2008