The compositions Katha Rossein paints overflow the pigments used to render them. Sometimes her paintings dissolve into near total abstraction; in others, the intimation of a body is rendered with a bright, pastel-like fleshiness that lends its contours a sensual gaiety. Working with various materials from painting to painting, the underlying impetus unifying her output is a sort of contemplative tranquility become fraught.
Layering a part or whole of her body as an expression of a visceral voice—conceived as an organic appreciation of the inner and visual collective self—is always intimated by what is revealed. The acrylic on paper piece, Letting Go, for instance, depicts a figure, perhaps in profile, centered on the canvas against a multi-colored backdrop. Looking at this piece, one notes how Rossein’s brushwork seems to wear at the paper, as though gesturing to a sense frustration or criticality toward the conventions she's putting to use (the female nude, etc.). At the same time, Rossein’s handling of paint creates a novel context for the appearance of a figure, like an embryo emerging into form. Whereas other painters depict figures, Rossein foregrounds the techniques that make figuration possible.
