Jo Rosenthal

"Jo Rosenthal is an Oreo cookie wrapped in a house fire"- her brother.

"I am made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% of me is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium.

I currently live and make art in Chinatown, New York City. My work is centered around themes of how personal I can get with an audience by opening myself up as much as possible.
What does it mean to be intimate with someone? What does it mean to be in love? What does it mean to capture someone? I frequently find myself posing these questions in my art practice.
When I finally realized what themes I wanted to use for process and creation, they all dealt with themes that answer the questions above. Similar to conceptual artists in the 90’s such as Tracey Emin and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, I work a lot with portraiture and how I can use this theme to execute work without using common practices such as figure to do so.
I use oil paint, performance and installation to communicate my artistic experiences and journey. I create work that makes people understand that it is okay to be emotional and intimate. I want to make work that makes people laugh and cry and want more. I want to write and paint and perform. I want to sing and dance and travel the world and overall, figure out what being Jo
means and why it is important to express the warmth of humanity through art."