Featured Artist Brian Rothstein

Enjoy the portfolio of oil painter Brian Rothstein, who captures moments of family love and kindness. View more by visiting his website.

 

 

These paintings represent an evolution of a body of work I started at the San Francisco Art Institute, where I really learned to paint. I was 39 and had already studied at U.C. San Diego and later at Santa Monica Community College while working as a scenic artist in Hollywood.

 

 

I had developed skills in drawing, color, and composition. But I was struggling as a painter and also, unfortunately, in my first marriage. Needless to say, it was a time of very intense emotions. I had a pent-up need to express them.

 

 

One of the first things I learned in art school is that it’s not what you paint or how you paint it but that you find something that resonates with you personally—whether from your inner or outer world—that excites you enough to be able to put your life energy into. I realized then, that my art journey was going to be one with my personal life journey.

 

 

As you will see in Locate Your Emergency Exit, one of the paintings of that time, I was undergoing a definite rebirth of the soul. I found that the expressionist mode, which was my instructors’ approach, was perfect. It encouraged me not only to express myself, but to make a fresh start as I found himself stymied in the conventional approach to painting. I felt truly liberated to learn to freely use thick layers of paint with deep and rich colors to bring my feelings to life.

 

 

The next paintings in this vein, Be Gentle 1-3, were started about ten years later and labored on for about ten years. I took my time to be truly present with my deepening awareness of vulnerability. This was necessary in developing the self-love and compassion I wanted these paintings to express.

 

 

The figures in these paintings were derived from black and white photos from a book, while their environments were imagined.

 

 

Most recently, my attention has turned to children and families in the real world. The remainder of the paintings here are from photos I took while I participated in a 4th of July parade as well as of children at play at a barbecue afterward (Playtime 1 and 2).

 

 

During the parade, I was inspired by the seemingly idyllic lush green neighborhoods with joyful inhabitants celebrating around me. These paintings represent the beginning of a new direction in my work. They embody a more naturalistic way of working, requiring me to paint smaller figures and to pay more attention to details. They also represent my new appreciation of the simple pleasures and relationships in life which I had previously taken for granted.

 

 

At 70, I have realized as I have matured, I don’t need to rely on a backlog of out-sized emotional baggage to fuel my paintings with energy and presence. I can work more quietly and precisely to transmit that same substance as I celebrate a new found love for showing people as they are in the real world.

 

Brian Rothstein invites you to follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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