Monika Rossa

      Artist's Statement

I always thought that it is very safe to be an artist, because I don't have to talk. Everything is there, on my paintings. There is no danger of me making a verbal mistake, and people putting a weight to this faulty word, waiting for further explanations. I paint people, in general, although occasionally I do landscapes and even few abstractions, just to get some fresh air into my mind. I paint and draw people, because I have always been fascinated by the way people are. The way they think. The way they look. The way they act. What happens in their minds. How they interact with other people, or nature. How happy they can be. How lonely they are, very often, even surrounded by a crowd. To have freedom of painting a human being, I draw regularly from a nude model. I think that it is essential for the artist to know how to draw, especially a human figure, because it is the most complex thing that one can draw. If I cheat on my fine pencil study, on the bones or flesh, everybody can see that; The lies are visible. The discipline that comes from using difficult drawing tools gives me the freedom of expression on canvas. I grew up in a polish family in Warsaw, Poland, under a still communist government. Many years ago, I thought, that it mattered, where I grew up. Now, I don't. My childhood only gives me extra perspective. I lived in many countries, I had to learn many languages. This only reinforced my thinking, that we all share the same feelings. We all have the same unanswered questions about our destiny, here and beyond.