Val Rossman’s paintings are spatially complex and visually exciting. Rectangular shapes of various sizes hover in front of, or are submerged behind other shapes. Sometimes the painted geometric forms are a solid color; sometimes transparent; and sometimes they seem to offer an opening or window to a world beyond. Patterns are suggested, truncated, and then unexpectedly reemerge in other places. Despite the controlled geometry of the individual elements, expressive brushwork runs freely over the surface, always asserting the hand and the presence of the artist. Elements of both the aesthetics of minimalist painting and abstract expressionism exist harmoniously side-by-side in these works. It is not surprising that the artist cites as one of her sources of inspiration the American tradition of quiltmaking, where disparate pieces of fabric from separate places are gathered and combined into a unified visual experience. 

The unifying element in Rossman’s work is her sensitive use of color. Joseph Rishel, retired curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, wrote in the catalog for one of Rossman earlier exhibits, “…it's fun to see all her sophisticated manipulation of color.....There's a lot of exploration going on in a seemingly contained format.”  Within Rossman’s chosen vocabulary of geometric shapes, patterns, and energetic calligraphy, color always predominates, lending a feeling of drama or quietude, depending on the artist’s palette choices. Rossman has said that she thinks, plays, and remembers in color and through these paintings, she brings the viewer into her color-world of memories and observations.

                                                                    Sharon Ewing

Former Owner and Director of Gross McCleaf Gallery

I've known Val Rossman's work for some time, but not in a conventional manner. I mostly look at her witty and sensual pastels at a fairly oblique angle from the perspective of her husband's dental chair, a fellow who is as talented and charming in his own way as his wife, if I may indulge in double compliments.   

Val went to Tyler at a magic moment in it's history in the mid-'70s. One can only speculate as to which aspect of that dynamic and wonderfully innovative moment set her most steadily on her path, particularly her love of pastel for which she has such a penchant and talent. And persistent she has been, since that time, exploring in a consistently paced manner, often fast and slow at the same time; the interaction of tone on surface, always with a sense of interaction between a gesture - skipping across the surface and/or flushing into it in broad swaths - and the field(s) it transforms.

She works these formulas - and I use the word in the spirit of the alchemists, not the mathematicians - with great invention. It's a very happy thing to watch. And it's fun to see all her sophisticated manipulation of color transported into pieces of aluminum (some tiny) in geometric panels, formal and lucid even as complicated as they get. There's a lot of exploration going on within a seemingly contained format.   

Joe Rishel

Former Philadelphia Museum of Art Gisela and Dennis Alter,

Former Senior Curator of European Painting before 1900,

Former Senior Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection

and the Rodin Museum

Entering Val Rossman’s studio I was bowled over by the explosion of energy in the pastel drawings created by this seemingly mild mannered artist. I was not prepared for the cacophony of color and exuberant mark making that make up her latest body of work.

Rossman’s pastel works are a chaotic blend of chance and careful planning, a process she views as a metaphor for life. She has always been intrigued by color, and the choice sets the mood for each piece. Each drawing is a map leading us on an adventure of color, mark and space. What used to be lyrical explorations in gorgeous color and controlled line are now wild trips of intentional dissonance and frantic gestures. Her marks have become very aggressive and expressive. Val ‘Rossman is not afraid to go into dark places - 

Rossman enjoys the immediacy of working in pastel. She becomes another element in the medium: chalk, paper, artist’s hand. Each work contains layer upon layer of pastel. She manipulates and massages the color into the paper, and rubs more color over that. She draws and makes marks. Ghosts of lines peek through. The archeology emerges. She may do something unexpected-a gash here, a slash of “ugly” color there.

Her basic vocabulary is a cross cultural dictionary full of symbols, like petroglyphs from ancient cultures. There are zigzags, spirals, and letters, the very basis for man’s earliest communication. A checkerboard represents a homey environment where people play games. A surprising red fork and spoon illustrate the simple pleasures of life, like a meal with the family. Dots are like footprints, and represent travel. A sense of whimsy has always been evident in Rossman’s work, but these new pieces have a rawness that speaks to a more aggressive and assertive side.

Rossman now takes risks that she never took before. With maturity comes a confidence, a “joie de vivre” that is fun, frivolous, and very exciting.

Julie Courtney - Independent Curator

One of the rewards for keeping a gallery going for a long time and certainly one of my greatest pleasures as an art dealer is the opportunity of working with the same artists over an extended period of time. I feel privileged to have been a close witness to Val Rossman’s steady development as an artist during the past sixteen years as evidenced by her seven solo shows here. In that time she has developed a clear and authentic voice, establishing herself as an important regional artist.

When I first saw her work she had just changed from painting in oils to making pastels her major media. Over the years she has developed personal ways of using the chalk that imparts a signature luminosity to her work. She has developed and constantly refines a personal vocabulary of forms that are nonobjective and are not meant to be read symbolically. Her work has the lyricism and cadences of visual music.

This body of work that includes oil paintings on metal sheets, represents another leap forward in imagery as swell as technique. Rossman’s usual forms seem to be dissolving into cascades of repeated marks, more evocative of force fields than of individual shapes floating in space, more reminiscent of the over-all feeling of Pollack than the intentionally directed compositions of Gorky. The lyricism remains and is energized with a delightful, pulsating energy.

Richard Rosenfeld

Owner/Director

The Rosenfeld Gallery