Work by Toby Rosser | |||||
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| ACRYLLIC AND DIGITAL
PRINTS ON CANVAS I am not interested in rendering or illustrating specific images. I have become very engrossed in the improvisational drawing, with paint, in reaction to what already exists on a surface. This process produces imagery of a more primitive or abstract nature. Desktop computers and printers can easily produce digital imagery solving the problem of having to render any narrative or illustrative elements. Images on paper from a desktop printer function as a structural foundation of the picture and very often are completely negated giving way to a more cathartic process of painting predominately with line. When pasted onto stretched canvas, or any supportive surface, the paper printouts produce a type of neglected billboard to paint on. I do not consciously choose imagery because of any subjective, editorial or symbolic aspect. Images are usually chosen for qualities such as structure, shape, basic form or color. They are applied to the canvas individually or collaged with other images. This allows me to draw with paint on top of this imagery responding to it with grid type line work. The computer generated imagery becomes more subtle but is still a variable of the work. I may also print out the image again and paste it on top of the painted surface. There are no pre-determined themes or subjects in these paintings. This series of paintings were produced over a ten year period starting in 2002 and they have been named after cities, towns or districts only when the after the paintings are completed. STEEL FABRICATIONS The standing figures and running man pieces are created as 2 dimensional designs on a computer. The designs are then cut out of cold rolled steel with a computer driven plasma cutter. Some pieces are welded from stock steel of different dimensions. Run Man Run is a 3 dimensional narrative on the conflict between the individual efforts of man and the inevitable forces of nature. Steel is strong so is man (humans) but the steel flows into a spiral form which is fluid and constantly replicated in nature. The individual steel pieces represent our individual efforts at controlling our fate in life but as a species we all eventually evolve and change as does all other forms of life. This installation is not meant to be negative in any sense. It actually contains a bit of irony as the individual figures who are industrial in form and material individually become fluid and natural as an entire entity. Run Man Run consists of 30-45 (depending on available space) individual steel units. each unit is approx 6"x10"x2". These units were designed digitally and cut from 3/16 cold rolled steel plates and then tack welded to a steel base. They may be sold individually or as a complete installation. The Run Man Run piece has been assembled and re-assembled in various locations and in numerous arrangements over the past 6 years. Originally designed on a computer, the running figure is digitally rendered to an industrial plasma cutter that holds a 9ft by 12ft sheet of 3/16 cold rolled steel. The bases are also cut from the same 9ft by 12ft sheet of steel and then tack welded to the figures. There is no pre-determined pattern or equation to these installations. |
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| GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009 - "From the Factory Floor". The Lift Trucks Project Space, Croton Falls, N.Y. 2005 - "Tri-State Juried Exhibition". Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, N.Y. 2002 - "Prevailing Human Spirit, The 9/11 Exhibition". Society of Illustrators NYC. 2001 - "Take Heart", MPI 49 West 23rd St. NYC. 1999 - Aquent Partners "Digital Meets Traditional", Norwalk, CT. 1999 - Aquent Partners "Digital Meets Traditional", Norwalk, CT. 1992 - McKensie & Company, Amenia, New York. 1991 - Gallery Sareido, 382 West Broadway, New York, NY. 1983 - Small Walls Gallery, New York, NY. 1981 - 9th Street Survival Show, New York, NY. SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2003 - Salisbury Art Center, Salisbury, CT 1978 - Valsamos Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. ARTIST BIO 2000 - Establishes studio in Ridgefield, CT. 1987 - Establishes and manages artists group studio in Jersey City, NJ. 1978 - BFA Sculpture Pratt Institute,NY., Carl Andre, senior year instructor. 1952 - Born in New Milford, CT. |
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