The website showcases Karen Rootenberg's art, focusing on themes of spirituality, human experience, and emotional depth. Each artwork explores different facets of human nature, often using metaphors of the heart and soul. Rootenberg’s work is described as unique, expressing the artist's personal vision and philosophy, with insights into feminine perspectives and occasional reflections on social and political issues.
In the genre I want to express the deep well of magic, beauty and dynamic mystery which resides in the human heart.
The heart can metaphorically be described as a sun. Like the sun the heart brings energy and light and the flow of a living force.
The soul is the medial point in the human being between the spiritual realm and the material realm (the body/the earth). If you imagine the shape of an X, the top triangle is the spiritual realm, and the bottom triangle is the material (earthly) realm. The soul is at the point of intersection.
The genre of Spiritual Art opens a window to a world which is at a different level of consciousness to the more everyday ‘ordinary’ consciousness. This implies trying to express a ‘supersensible’ reality; in other words, the reality is not the material world of landscapes for example, or the world where everyday objects become the focus of artistic expression.
I am a woman and hence I believe and observe that my art has a different colouring, texture, tone, and subject matter to many artists who are men.
Male artists have tended to dominate the artistic ‘landscape’ overall and have put their stamp on what artistic trends or directions were in the past and currently are.
I don’t paint many political paintings but when I do my intention is to create awareness of a world which is filled with war and conflict but also to bring awareness to a world where suffering is an everyday reality. This is the world of poverty and hardship. One can ask why I pay so much attention to this.
My artistic mission is to express the dynamic of ‘humanness.’ This ‘being human’ is a multi-faceted reality. We are brushstrokes of light and dark.
Being human means that one falls in love. This may be with a mission.
When one is in love, one is enraptured, exhilarated, challenged, and committed to whatever arises in the journey of love. My soul is in love with painting, and it wants to express all the multi-faceted colour, spirit, emotion, the form, and miracle of being a human being. And because we are not separate, my art is about you too.
Here on these pages, you will find my heart. You will see my soul. I think it speaks a powerful language of what it means to be human.
I have been told that my art is unique, and I think it is.
I hope my soul speaks to yours in my art. I hope that it enlivens your experience of what it means to be human.