About Alexandra Rozenman's Art
What is most striking about the visually appealing paintings of Alexandra Rozenman is the depth of meaning she is able to convey in the composition of ordinary objects. These colorful paintings have their antecedents not in the artistic tradition of landscapes but more in the literary tradition of magical symbolism. Even so, the originality of her art ultimately escapes all labels. Her work gives eloquent voice to the politics of the small, everyday events that constitute our lives. In their short bursts of complex emotion, Rozenman’s playful compositions create a remarkably candid narrative gestalt. By telling her own story of fear, hope, and disappointment in such personal terms, Rozenman demonstrates unusual courage and compassion for others—a rarity in today’s commercialized and yet overly intellectualized art world.
Although the bright colors of her palette and the familiar objects on her canvas—oranges, ladders, doors, birds, bridges—make her work emotionally accessible, the juxtaposition of these objects adds mystery to her paintings. We know her—yet we cannot know everything. Such is the experience of all human interactions: we share a great deal but, ultimately, we are a mystery to one another.
Less comforting and more severely honest are her drawings. Here the oranges are not orange. The water is not blue and the grass is not green. But the narrative impact is equally powerful and the emotions even more stark as, here too, Rozenman reassures her viewers that they are not alone in their suffering.
Taken as a whole, the work of Alexandra Rozenman testifies to the desire of all of us to understand and to be understood, no matter what obstacles stand in our way.
- Katherine Fishburn, poet and art collector
