Found Objects Painting

Peter Rössell is an artist whose paintings intricately weave together the echoes of post-World War II artistic traditions with a keen awareness of contemporary socio-cultural climates. While his work reflects visible links to the last 50 years of painting development, it is unmistakably shaped by the peculiarities of the late-1990s. Often compared to Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Rössell shares their use of cartoon imagery but stands apart in his approach. In contrast to the clear, straightforward compositions of early Pop art, Rössell's canvases are dense, chaotic, and filled with a barrage of competing images. His paintings mirror the optical overload experienced in modern life, featuring fragments of text, dance-step diagrams, and a plethora of disjointed icons. Rössell emerges as an unapologetic purveyor of information overload, offering a reflection of our contemporary world that is both terrifying and compelling. In spirit, Rössell aligns with Pop art lineage, reminiscent of artists like Peter Saul, known for compositional complexity and a preference for filling canvases edge-to-edge. Like Saul, Rössell's work resounds with a resolutely urban quality, resembling residual records from city streetscapes with layers of postering and tagging. His slapdash assembly of pattern, text, cartoons, and more gives his work a dynamic and gritty appeal. Rössell's approach also draws parallels to the "Affichistes" of the 1950s, a loose group within Nouveau Réalisme who celebrated the detritus of everyday culture. Just as Affichisme liberated torn street posters for fine art, Rössell rescues a degraded roster of images, crafting a simulacrum of contemporary visual chaos through conscious decisions in the studio. The remarkable accuracy of Rössell's achievement speaks to his sensitivity to optical ecology and reflects our own environment in shattered mirrors that refract, scramble, and conjoin diverse representational modes. His paintings serve as powerful reflections of the cognitive versatility required to navigate the complexities of an increasingly dense urban mediascape.