Diane Rosen - Pastel Artist

Tell us about your process; is there one particular “story of creation” you'd like share?

Images arise of their own accord, forming gradually like iron filings gathering to a magnet. The few constants are: subject matter, the figure; medium, pastel; mood, ambiguity. Frequently, I underpaint pastel with spattered or dripped acrylic paint, heightening a sense of indeterminacy as randomness intrudes on intentionality. In the three images here, however, mystery enough is evoked by solitary figures in unspecified surroundings with only a shadow for companion.

What was your most meaningful learning experience during your art education?

After art school I won a French Government Fellowship to continue pastel study in Paris for a year. During that time I encountered work by the Dadaists for whom uncertainty was the only certainty and, as Marcel Duchamp said, "everything can be something else." Although I've never strayed far from figurative realism, that aesthetic greatly influenced me.

How do you hope your art will affect your audience?

I have no expectations other than hoping to arouse an array of memories, associations and feelings within the viewer that may then stir personally meaningful questions. For me, the communicative role of artwork is best served by questions rather than answers.