Drops of Water by Esther Rosa

ESTHER ROSA

“Drops of water”

Sohotel Artspace Gallery May 16th to Jun 4th 2

Esther Rosa is bringing a subtle but always direct sense of a distant realm of touches and forms, a page of historical references of the most interesting considerations on colors debated in Europe and in USA in the last seventy years. It is clear that Esther affirms her statement with a sense of grace and elegance, with lyrical gestures, based on a sensual poetic, revealing the underground world pulsing at different levels. The technique involved in her paintings, from the larger to the smaller, from the wood panels and the linen canvases, reveals an action of composing and decomposing, distributing layers and removing them, rotating the surface. This constant debate on forms, providing to them a new sense in terms of compositional structure, affirming and denying, structuring on the psychology of the colors, offers to the viewer a world of calculated tensions. The works of Esther suggest a musical echo, a memory of symphonic composition due to the quantity of instruments involved, but always maintained in a minimal set. Some of the paintings are under the idea and the aesthetic of symmetry; others are asymmetric with deep tones of Japanese and Asian influence. All the large areas of color in which Esther deposits the sense of her Spain: the lightness in contrast with a rich tradition of deep and strong colors, the movement of the wind and the water in her country, some color of the fields and the faรงade of the buildings. However, what is perceived is a sort of filtered atmosphere, an interior aspect of the soul, not physical at all and without points of reference with reality. What seems to be clear becomes mysterious, and what is there disappears, and in this game of lights and shadows, of smell and sound, the eyes abandon themselves in a distant dream. Maurizio Pellegrin Director National Academy School

Art Statement

My work allows me to express my impressions about life. It is possible that my innate curiosity combined with my training as a psychologist lead me to analyze and observe the life around me as I do. Day to day life shapes us, transforms us and allows us to evolve as we grow and shape ourselves in the hopes of finding meaning and joy. When wonderful moments of fulfillment come along our life’s path, we try to hold on to them tightly as if to capture them so that we can fulfill and empower ourselves eternally. However, these moments are as fleeting as water streaming through our hands and they are not meant to last. Perhaps some drops of water remain as proof but these too evaporate soon enough. In the Drops of Water series, I use water as a part of the creative process which, when mixed with pigments, allows me to create multi-layered surfaces, leaving behind imprints that tell their own unique and particular story within their muted colors of smooth transition and assorted forms that appear to float above or avoid the surface altogether. Like in much of my previous work, I use a bronze pigment to signify the fact that life is never static but continuously about evolution, adaptation, transformation and change. As an artist, I cannot remain attached to an initial intention when creating a piece. I let the process and the materials lead me until the piece realizes itself. Any aim at perfection or control must be abandoned, much like the Leonard Cohen lyric that says: “Forget your perfect offering there is a crack a crack in everything that’s where the light gets in” We need to appreciate the beauty that exists within the imperfections in the ebb and flow of life and resign ourselves to peacefully accept this as part of the natural process of living.

Biography Born in Madrid, Spain (Selected Exhibitions)

2014 Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY. Sohotel Artspace Gallery National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York, NY. “Creative Mischief” 2013 Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY. Sohotel Artspace Gallery National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York, NY. “Creative Mischief” Solo Show at Sohotel Artspace Gallery, New York, NY. 2012 Atlantic Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY. “New Directions”, Group Show. Solo Show at Sonia Gechtoff Gallery, New York, NY National Academy of Fine Arts, New York, NY. “Practices in printmaking” National Academy of Fine Arts’s Open House, New York, NY Sonia Gechtoff Gallery, New York, NY. “Photo Gesture Group Exhibition”, (two digital print selected) National Academy of Fine Arts, New York, NY. Group Exhibition Van Brunt Gallery, New York, NY. “Seeing is Believing”, Group Exhibition 2011 Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY. Standarte Gallery Centro Español La Nacional, New York, NY. “Spanish Abstract” exhibition Sonia Gechtoff Gallery, New York, NY. “The Charity Exhibition for Earthquake & Tsunami Victims in Japan” 2010 National Academy of Fine Arts, New York, NY. Mid-Year Show National Academy of Fine Arts, New York, NY. End Year Show, (artwork selected by a jury of National Academicians) 20

Bibliography 2013 My Stylish, Cathie Arquilla blog, March 20th, “Go get arty” 2012 GQ.com, Spain, October 9th. “Breathing, de Esther Rosa, en la National Academy of Fine Arts de Nueva York” Expansión, Spain, October 6th (ill. p.40) Ronda Iberia, Spain, October (ill. p.13) Telva, Spain, October (ill. p.90) New York Post, July 5th, “Black and White” (ill. p.41) El Periodico de Cataluna, March 18th, “Artístas en Nueva York: Cinco españolas que tríunfan en la Gran Manzana” (ill. p.48) 2011 Expansión, Spain, May 27th, “El arte español más femenino tríunfa en la Gran Manzana” (ill. p.37) Blog Todo sobre Nueva York, November 2nd, “El NY de Esther Rosa”

Index 4. “Spring light”

Acrylic on canvas 50x32in

10. “Wabi Sabi”

Acrylic on canvas 36x24in

16. “Bubbles II”

Acrylic on canvas 72x40in

“Shore” Acrylic on canvas 72x60in

11.

“Time in between” Acrylic on canvas 66x30in

12. “Rolling in the deep”

“Mission to forget” Acrylic on canvas 52x30in

13.

“Japanese pond” (Tryptic) Acrylic on canvas 24x24in each

19. “Under the snow”

“Summer rain” Acrylic on canvas 60x40in

“Bubbles” Acrylic on canvas 50x50in

20. “Under the fall”

“Broken Reflexions” Acrylic on canvas 46x32in

15.

“Ebb and flow” (Tryptic) Acrylic on canvas 50x30in each

21. “Vanish” (Diptych)

“Wabi Sabi II” Acrylic on canvas 40x40in

Acrylic on canvas 24x24in

17. “Tinted light”

(Diptych) Acrylic on canvas 50x50in each

18. “Where the light gets in” Acrylic on canvas 48x20in

(Tryptic) Acrylic on canvas 24x24in each

Acrylic on canvas 50x18in

Acrylic on canvas 24x24in each

This catalogue was published on the occasion of the Solo Show held from May 16th to Jun 4th at Sohotel Artspace Gallery, New York.