Toby Rosser
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Group Exhibitions:
→ 2023 - " Visual Language & Catharsis" - Reeves Art & Design, Houston, TX
→ 2020 - DUMPLING HOUSE GALLERY - Houston, TX
→ 2020 - "Luminosity" - GEORGETOWN ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER - Georgetown, CT
→ 2012 - " CURRENTS" - The Edward Hopper House - Nyack, NY
→ 2010 - "EKFRESES" - Lift Trucks Gallery - Croton Falls, NY
→ 2009 - "From-the-Factory-Floor" - Lift Trucks Gallery - Croton Falls, NY
→ 2005 - "Tri-State Juried Exhibition". Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, N.Y.
→ 2002 - "Prevailing Human Spirit, The 9/11 Exhibition". Society of Illustrators NYC.
→ 2001 - "Take Heart", MPI 49 West 23rd St. NYC.
→ 1999 - Aquent Partners "Digital Meets Traditional", Norwalk, CT.
→ 1991 - Gallery Sareido, 382 West Broadway, New York, NY.
→ 1983 - Small Walls Gallery, New York, NY.
→ 1981 - "9th Street Survival Show", New York, NY.
Solo Exhibitions:
→ 2020 - THE DUMPLING HOUSE GALLERY - Houston, TX
→ 2014 - THE DRIVE-BY GALLERY - Croton Falls, NY
→ 2014 - RUN MAN RUN - Lift Trucks Gallery - Croton Falls, NY
→ 2003 - Salisbury Art Center, Salisbury, CT
→ 1992 - McKensie & Company, Amenia, New York.
→ 1978 - Valsamos Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
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My parents both had careers in the applied arts in New York City before moving to rural New England to start a family. I grew up in an atmosphere of creativity and culture and had access to books and literature about the visual arts. Illustration, cartooning, and graphic design were a constant influence and preoccupation throughout my youth. The visually rich environment in rural New England and the cultural influences in my home shaped much of my attitude and aesthetics toward the visual arts.
Because of this isolation in my youth, drawing and painting became a personal necessity or a place of resolve, solace, and rest....much like writing a diary...it was almost a type of affliction. I later attended art college at the Pratt Institute in New York City, majoring in Sculpture and Graphic Design. I was exposed to contemporary painting and sculpture at Pratt Institute, significantly impacting my approach to visual thinking and methodologies of 2- and 3-dimensional art and design.
Over many years, and out of necessity, I developed a method of picture-making without rendering a literal subject—a grid type of pictorial modulation using line and color. This process of drawing with paint would allow more intuitive, subconscious, and uncontrived imagery to evolve. It allowed for more cathartic results and nuanced visual relationships to evolve without the constraints of a specific narrative in the composition. The subjective or ambiguous imagery invites a viewer into the picture because it does not attempt to provide a clear or absolute meaning. This encourages the viewer to engage with the painting more personally and bring their interpretation and perspective to the work.
My continuing efforts at the craft of abstract painting and applied design have continued well into my adult life. Over the past 40 years, I have developed a visual language that is not dependent on rendering a specific subject or illustrated narrative. As the pictorial space is modeled, structural relationships organically evolve, and a subconscious visual story is invoked.
2018 - Establishes (Present) studio in Houston, Texas
2000 - Establishes studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
1994 - Establishes studio in Purdy's, New York.
1984 - Establishes and manages artists' studio in Jersey City, New Jersey.
1978 - BFA in Sculpture and Design from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, Senior year mentorship with minimalist sculptor Carl Andre.
1952 - Born, New Milford, Connecticut.
Over many years of practicing pictorial craft, I developed a methodology of drawing with paint until visual relationships begin to naturally appear from the subconscious.
I intuitively follow whatever happens on the page when I start drawing. I never intend to render any specific narrative or subject. This is a type of visual diary.
This approach allows for visual relationships to emerge by crafting structural pathways that engage the viewer and keep them in the picture. The shapes and objects may appear unconnected or unrelated; however, they form a visual story that slowly reveals itself to the viewer. The result is a picture that allows the viewer to rest and discover their own imagination.
Much like nuanced or abstract imagery in cinema keeps you watching as you know it is part of an overall story.
