Jean Claude Rossel

“I endeavor , in a state of blindness, to establish, in a white yet colorful bedazzlement, places of silence.”

The artist, originally a native of the north-east of France, adopted (and was adopted by) the Côte d’Azur in the early seventies.

‘Station’, Rossel’s favorite generic title, is a command which calls us to attention, inviting the audience to appropriate contemplation.

In a few firm strokes of his brush, the artist lays down on the white - and sometimes blue - of paper or canvas, a colorful arrangement in a brightness that is both original and terse.

Everything starts with oil pastel studies: paintings, prints, as well as stained-glass windows. Beginning with models (called Bonsaïs), Rossel also raises monumental colorful constructions made of steel: semaphore, high portico or giant bed cage, flagpole or greasy pole…

Art is a ritual; the painting an icon. The entire work of the artist is to give shape to the unspeakable, “to bring under control that which escapes me without color or shape.” Then, he extracts shapes and colors from the haze and pares them down them until he attains the ideal structure of each composition.

From one technique to another, he invites us on the meditation that he is seeking, day after day, through colors and shapes, and to share his pleasure, perpetually stirred up by the fascinating game of infinite combinations.

And he insists, “Above all, I don’t want to SAY anything.” Shirking all shady compromise and powerlessness built up as the art of speech, Rossel urges us to the silence of what he’s giving us to see.

John Squiers - N.Y.