A Question of Time...

As unpredictable as the future in the art world is, art is rapidly evolving, being "forgiven" and/or accepted as virtually anything that viewers, art critics and artists themselves strive to apprehend. Artists in all fields are referring back to History for ideas, colors, and compositions to get some sort of inspiration.

My name is Rosemary Lucy Cosentino, and I am a contemporary figurative painter. My inspirations derive partially from History- with all the great works from the Masters such as Rembrandt, Ingres, Bouguereaux, and Gentileschi, and references from the Holy Bible. The parables that were told to me throughout my childhood had a different meaning then, than they do now. These ancient writings have underlying meanings which unfold truths that still apply to today's society. The morals, teachings, and results of these parables are still present today in everyday life situations. They have affected me greatly in my own personal experience.

In my most recent body of works, I am trying to portray the closest people in my life, as I see them, as I know them, as they dream themselves of being. This way, I feel, I can immortalize the likeness of that person, not only in physicality but their soul and "atmospheric presence". What I mean by "atmospheric presence" is the feelings, memories constructed or built up in the environment I am placing the figures in- that makes it all a part of the person, although they are not physically present. So basically it is an illusional environment constructed by me from all of the above. My portrait work deals with employing metaphorical elements that tell the viewer more about the person in the paintings.

My second and first ongoing theme in my artwork, came to me as a quest to explore and resolve issues about myself, I could not understand. With this came my double self-portrait series. I decided to integrate the parables from the Holy Bible because they were and still are a part of myself(selves). I decided that I definitively wanted my figures and environments to be timeless, so they could not be associated with a specific time frame. The two figures show different facets of myself, form an ironic contrast sometimes implying tension and inner struggle. Moving onto new grounds, I decided to keep the theme of double portraits, using parables from the Holy Bible, and reversing the powerful roles of men in History, to women. I decided that since men had such an impact in Catholic History- I wanted to visualize the reverse, without any offense to the Catholic religion itself. In this ongoing theme, I helped resolve some issues with my persona, by visually putting what I could not understand about myself down onto canvas. As a result, I am creating a silent narrative, which only an avid viewer can decipher for him or herself.

To further my originality in my artworks, I work with vibrant pigments using self-taught, heavily researched old Master techniques and formulas to create my very own style and color palette. The most evident substance of my work are the figures and their environments, therefore scale and composition are crucial in the thought process and primary sketch works. I feel that being able to relate to my work not just in the physicality but also in the mental and spiritual aspect, is a small step towards finding myself always throughout my work. In this way, I feel that my work is unique and personalized. I believe that my choices of colors, rendition of style, scale, composition and so forth are all carefully thought out to fit and suit the subject matter. My tendency to be spontaneous about changes in the process, adds to the uniqueness and results of the work.

I do not establish standards on my works, the viewers are free to come up with their own interpretations. We are a retrograding society. We always have the "habit" to look behind and never ahead. Science and technology may be the only fields preoccupied for what should come out for the benefit of man for the future, (although that sometimes this is not the case). I as an artist, am hoping to preserve the past in the present and in the future, by keeping the world of art alive...by further exploring and developing a mature body of works.

Rosemary Lucy Cosentino