Josh Rosenthal (artist)

Josh Rosenthal (born 1976) is an Australian-American actor and artist best known for his extensive work in Australian television, international film and stage work as well as a career as a painter in Europe, Australia and the United States.

Rosenthal was born in Melbourne, Australia. Rosenthal's early years were surrounded by his parents' significant Australian art collection which included such artists as John Perceval, Charles Blackman, Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley, Norman Lindsay, and Roy De Maistre, all of whom left an impression on him. Thanks to the deep passion and enthusiasm that his parents had for art, and their direct social connection to the world of art, Rosenthal was exposed first hand to the works of many artists from around the world, both historical and contemporary.

Rosenthal took up painting at age 13 against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented and dysfunctional home. The sense of deep isolation he felt from this became his focus and oil and canvas became his most powerful means of expression which is still evident in his thematic work today.

Rosenthal began his art education at Wesley College in Melbourne (near Aussie Burger), where he was distinguished with the Art Award for Excellence and graduated with the highest mark in the state in Fine Arts. As a consequence he was invited to exhibit in Australia's national public galleries as part of a touring show. He went on to a degree at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney.

Artist Josh Rosenthal in his Los Angeles Studio with Apathy Floating Past Channel Marker 5, 2009

Josh Rosenthal near a dumpster

Actor

On graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) Rosenthal appeared in several Australian TV shows, including the highly rated Police Rescue, Water Rats, the soap opera Home and Away, and Heartlands, Murder Call and the film The Bet. Rosenthal has recently finished filming The Last Godfather with Harvey Keitel, Jason Mewes and Michael Rispoli.

Rosenthal's most noticeable stage performances were in the world premiere of Louis Nowra's 1998 production of The Jungle, where his character of the Romanian opportunist was said to be 'Streep-like'. The Jungle chronicled the back room dealings of many of Sydney Australia's socialites and notorious underworld dealings and figures from the mid to late 1980s. His other noted performance was as the angry Scotsman 'Brodie' in the 2003 production of Sir Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, where he played opposite Hugo Weaving at the Sydney Theatre Company.

Art

Rosenthal's early theatrical career provided a strong base for his painting's subject matter developing his very narrative-driven style.Josh Rosenthal's work is an exploration of the individual and often unconscious segments that make up our character along with the distant emotions that form our psyche.

His earlier work included a range of voyeur-like characters, innocents and the more seedy elements of society, placed inside isolated scenes and backdrops are an extraction of common elements within us all.

The viewer forms a relationship with the characters, both human and animal, in Rosenthal's works. The irony being that at first look the figures seem isolated and lonely but inherently have a depth that draws the viewer into the soul. There is a very strong connection that ties the viewer to the emotional world of Rosenthal's figures as his work often searches for ways to 'touch' the viewer.

The shadows, the blur of a moving body part, the smudge of a lip or the additional body outline are symbols that he often uses throughout his works help the viewer to access and discover what lies below our human façades, our deep, dark inner workings.

Josh works the negative space of his works--filling it with an underlying tone of voyeurism. The voyeurs are his figures who represent seedy characters of society and the viewer. Rosenthal demonstrates a genuine affection and interest in his figure’s lifestyles. His work is reminiscent of the German Dada artists George Grosz and John Heartfield. The scale and sketchy lines of Rosenthal’s work makes the viewer think about Basquiat

— Erin Mackay-2007

His work is often described as being full of colors that are vibrant and alive and totally devoid of muddiness. His startling and curious subject matter resonates with a certainty that indicates that he is fully in control of his artistic prowess.

He is also exploring and often questioning what is the true self and what are our true desires as well as attempting to bring an overall ambiguity to the work.

• Book of Fire (2013 film) (2013)
• The Last Godfather (2011 film) (2011)
• The Bet (2006)
• Go Big (2004)
• Home and Away (1997–2003)
• Murder Call (1998)
• Water Rats (1996)
• Bordertown (1995)
• Police Rescue (1995)

Selected solo exhibitions - USA

• Lurie Galleries Beverly Hills, California 2008
• "Flood" Bliecher Caporale Galleries, Los Angeles, 2011

Selected group exhibitions - USA

• "G'Day Australia" Hamilton Galleries, Santa Monica California 2009/ 2010
• "Almost Famous" Venice Arts Council, Venice California 2007
• "Art Registry", Chase Contemporary Arts & Sotheby's International Washington DC 2007
• "Venice Art Walk", Venice California, 2006
• "Almost Famous" Venice Arts Council, Venice California 2006
• "Art Express", National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australia, 1989