Rosalyn Schwartz: Artist Statement

While explicit in their unapologetic beauty, my paintings present a contemporary investigation of the quintessential conflict between our notions of beauty and futility, perfection and impossibility. I explore these dualities by using improbable combinations of both representational and abstract imagery juxtaposed with decorative motifs and patterns taken from elements in such interiors as 18th century French and German rococo to mid-century modern contemporary interiors. I am interested in how these elaborately adorned spaces, both public and private, become visual and psychologically compelling substitutes for a presumed sense of harmony, comfort, and prosperity. My paintings are meant to implicate and seduce the viewer by confronting them with a stereotypical interpretation of the “beautiful painting,” willful in its attention to detail, intense color, and refinement of surface, at the same time using this strategy to exploit the tension between reality and illusion. By purposely not limiting subject matter to one in particular implies a questioning of the premise that there is a predictable evolution to the history of painting.