Connect to the Hidden Mystery
When you look at my paintings, even if you're sitting at your desk at work, you are reminded of just how wonderfully mysterious the world can be--and that we too are part of that mystery. Clients tell me that they feel they recognize my abstracts and imaginary landscapes from their dreams and visions. That's just what I want for you--the sense of a reconnection to the magical world that sometimes feels very far away, even impossible in our difficult, tumultuous lives. 
Most of my imagery comes from my imagination. A light sleeper, instead of spending the time I am awake in the middle of the night worrying about things, I deliberately open myself up to spirit and to my own subconscious. Images come to me, and unlike with dreams, which I often forget as soon as I wake up, I remember them and make notes about them the next day in my art journal. I also use that quiet time to arrange paintings in my head--to try out colors, patterns, structure. Even so, when I sit down to paint, the image might morph. But that's okay, as long as I feel like it still connects to the hidden power and beauty of our world.
I also enjoy creating Surrealist portraits of imaginary people. I began doing this as a personal way to combat the darkness of the present day.
I studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the early seventies, but life happened and I had to drop out. I kept doing art for myself, but not in any professional way. After working in watercolors and colored pencil for decades, I switched to acrylics because of the number of glazes that that medium allowed me to employ. When I developed a sensitivity to wet acrylic paint, I tried various other mediums and settled on oils and watercolors.
I am open to doing commissions related to surrealism or esoteric or magical concepts. You can contact me at harold@haroldroth.com
Shows:
"The Mandrake" in "Plants of Witchery" at Third Sanctum Gallery, April 13-30, 2023.
"Congregation" and "Moon Seed" in "Pandemonium" at Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, Sept. 24 to November 14th, 2020.
"Winter Sunset" in Members Show, Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, 2019.
"Lavender Sea" and "Lovers" in the Pawtucket Foundation Show at Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, May 9 - ,2019.
"The Black Tower" in "Art of Darkness II" at HeartSpot Gallery, East Providence, RI, October 25-November 14, 2018.
"Morning Shore" in "This Land Is Your..." at Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, Pawtucket, RI, September 27-November 8, 2018.
"Welcome Storm" in "The Great Outdoors" at HeartSpot Gallery, East Providence, RI, August 17-September 22, 2018.
"Uprising" in "Who Are We?" at Pawtucket Arts Collaborative Gallery, Pawtucket, RI, May 24-June 21, 2018.
"Sunwheel" and "Rose Moon Spirit" in Art League Rhode Island Associate Members Exhibition, Providence, RI, May 6-June 24, 2017.
"Chthonia" in "Abstracts," March 2016, Light Space Time Gallery.
"Nightfall" and "Moon Over Water" in "Skies," March 2016, Colors of Humanity Gallery.
Education:
Summer 1971-December 1972. Painting. School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
