Rosa Zangenberg

My work is composed of layers of material. It deconstructs the traditional oil painting as a concept by challenging the possibilities of the two components that classically constitute the oil painting. I approach my paintings with a certainly intended struggle, enforced by a choice of paint and canvas which do not necessarily complement each other in a traditional painterly sense. I believe this struggle has the ability to create tension within the work, an eternal conflict between the pictorial and embodied object.⁠ ⁠ Skin reoccurs in my work due to its quality of being the very representative layer of a human (or non-human) while at the same time being the entity that allows us to perceive any humanlike object as tangible and tactile.⁠ ⁠ Like skin, my paintings challenge the border between surface and object which, ultimately, makes the distinction between these irrelevant. Making this distinction irrelevant is a crucial tool in my work. By dismissing any distinction, the distinction between the work and the viewer simultaneously becomes obsolete. Instead, the relational qualities of the work are stimulated within the viewer which will succeed in a deeper connection between my viewer and the work.