LOU ROS

Lou Ros is a contemporary French painter whose roots are in graffiti. He began painting at the age of seventeen tagging alleyways, buildings, and signs across the Parisian sprawl. He graduated from simple tagging to elaborate murals and now, at the age of 28, is emerging as a powerful ephemeral painter in the world of fine art. Ros never attended an art school. He works large and quick. His work is a blend of reality and his imagination allowing viewers to experience the transcendence of imagination into reality. He often references photographs for the subject matter of his painting. Ros is inspired by past and contemporary expressionist painters like Francis Bacon and Cecily Brown along with the writings of French art historian Georges Didi-Huberman. Ros claims to paint instinctively.

Corpus 10, Lou Ros, Oil on Canvas, 63 x 45 " 2013

I am most drawn to his portraiture because it exhibits a lot of emotional content and focuses more on accurately depicting the emotion and narrative than it does on the subject. His other works are figural pieces and disjunctive narratives with dark and often erotic undertones.

YG, Lou Ros, Oil on Canvas, 36 x 28 ", 2011

Ros completed a series of paintings of choreography, Corps & Graphiquement that are packed with energy. His organic marks and minimal detail dance across the canvas bringing movement to the pieces that establishes an understanding of the next move the dancers will execute.

Corps & Graphiquement, Lou Ros, Oil on Canvas, 39 x 39 ", 2009

I often want to tear across a canvas with a large brushstroke because of my drained focus of attention on the subject and persistent need to be physical. Like Ros, I am more sucessful with an intuitive painting process because it allows for less deliberation so that my decisions are not thought out but automatically concluded. Ros has found a well-enough niche to insert himself into modern painting, and has come to manage his natural gift at realism and portraying expressive content while leaving enough details ambiguous so the viewers can respond to his work differently.