Monika Rosen
Through figures and landscapes, real and imagined, I play with the notion of our personal grottos - places of reflection, immersion and sanctuary, where our psyches can re-envision themselves in the world and transform. Colour and tonality dance across the canvas, at times in balance or overcoming the other, mirroring the rational and emotional self in mediation. In recent work, I delve deeper into frameworks of understanding depression through a more intense use of colour and structural devices, continuing a subject matter that includes an immersion in nature. I utilize a range of techniques - monotype, en-plein-air, or built-up layers of oils - for their differing speeds in the creation process, allowing me to hold space for both rumination and spontaneity in the work. In part to balance my own needs, through this technical narrative, I embrace resiliently the ebbs and flows of mental health across the seasons.
Be-wilder
Oil on alu panel, 16” diameter $750
Monika Rosen holds an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art in 2019, and a BFA from Queen’s University in 2013. Fascinated by the relationship of psychology and the landscape, she works primarily in oil painting and monotype to explore notions of interconnection, mental health and sanctuary. Living in the mountains of BC for several years from 2015-2017 nurtured a love of the outdoors, and she incorporates en-plein-air landscape painting whenever she can. She has attended artistic residencies in Manchester (UK), Assisi (Italy), St. Andrews (New Brunswick), and an art internship residency on Fogo Island, Newfoundland in 2022. Her work is in private and corporate collections, including those of Tiffany Pham, 21C Museum Hotels, and most recently, The Daniels Corporation in Toronto.