“While in school in the southwest, I often watched Navajo and Pueblo artists create sand paintings. They
are beautiful, precision, artistic creations made of tiny grains of sand in the outdoors where winds will
eventually blow them apart. They disappear entirely as the sands return to the earth and become a part
of the past, often before the image is completed. While these temporary creations reminded me of an
artist lighting work afire in order to let go of attachment, they conflicted with my understandings of
intention and what I thought expression needed to be. If creating the painting was not the intent, nor was
having a finished product to share, was there something to be found ‘now’ in the middle?

As I began painting my own work a few years back I began refining the challenges of making art that I had
laid out for myself, most importantly purpose-which would then define my content. I had paintings of
good technical skill, pallette, and application but very lifeless and certainly purposeless, if only to match
furniture. It was before or after, take your pick. But it wasn’t the ‘now’ that I was starting to see as the
whole reason for creating, not like those sand paintings.

This is the point where many capable artists often abandon representational art and start painting
abstracts to access the ‘now’ through brushstroke energy. To me, that is the concession that falls short of
the challenge. The ‘now’ was the intrinsic point, the purpose of creating, and the access to human elevation.
Human access seeks familiarity through representation and it is always in motion, impossible to pin down.

The ‘now’ in my work has become an exploitation of human life and it’s patterns. It reflects all phases of
human existence from optics, construct, behavior, development, perspective, desire, ideals, lifestyle, and
sentiment. It is also a reminder of the importance of being in, and recognizing, the present moment in a
reality that is constantly evolving and changing form.”

Todd Loyal Rose is an award-winning artist with paintings in collections all over the U.S. and the world,
including Germany, Switzerland, and Canada He graduated from Arizona State University 1994 with a
BFA in Graphic Design, including extended studies in architecture and contemporary art history. He was a
digital illustrator and graphic designer in the greater bay area for several years, specializing in Photoshop
imagery for the tech industry. A happily married family man in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, CA for over 25
years now, Todd is also an impeccable musician of many stringed instruments, loves dogs, and can be often
found taking thought-provoking walks along the beaches and bluffed coastline of California.

For more work, questions and inquiries: https://toddloyalrose.com