Artist/Maker
Roy Rossow
b. 1975
Title
Night Departure
Date2015
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensions9 × 8 × 2 3/4 in. (22.9 × 20.3 × 7 cm)
Donor credit lineODHS Purchase
Object number2022.4.2
Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
DescriptionArtist Roy Rossow (b. 1975) is drawn to nocturnes as subject matter and explores themes that tie the night skies to maritime culture and navigation. He pictures the radiance of celestial forms as luminous, burning bodies in the dark—drawing connections between star charts and celestial navigation practices of mariners in centuries past. His work, which alternates between detailed realism and a soft-focus lens, interrogates visual distances and raises questions about perspective and mobility. This is one of his nocturne paintings depicting a boat in the New Bedford harbor. Lights from the boat cast light on the water. The artist says of his work, “I am fascinated with the transformation of the landscape in the night. Lights take on an emotive beauty in the shifting darkness, and color, though muted, becomes even more precious among an endless assortment of grays and blacks. The nocturne challenges us to enter a meditative observational state in which we are aware of subtle changes, both natural and man-made.”
Roy St. Christopher Rossow was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He emigrated to the United States at the age of eight for better medical care after contracting polio. Raised in a small rural New England town, surrounded by corn fields and open pastures, Roy gained a love and appreciation for nature. He moved to Newport, RI to study painting and computer science at Salve Regina University, receiving a BA and BS. After working for over fifteen years as a digital artist, Roy pursued a graduate degree in painting at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in New Bedford, MA. Since completing his master’s degree, Roy has been living and working in the historic downtown New Bedford as a full-time artist.
ProvenanceODHS Purchase from the artist, 2022.
On View
Not on view1725-1960
Charles W. Morgan (Bark)
19th Century
