When you look at Monica Rohan’s paintings made of coloured vortices and female bodies with heads hidden in swirling patterns, the first impression is an undefinable attraction to what seems to be a warm and cozy cache. Then you see that bodies, most of them self-portraits, are not just hiding themselves, but they’re falling, floating, suspended in the dimension of thoughts. The fabric represents the blanket under which everybody of us, once in a life, hid looking for a shelter from anxieties of isolation and human frailty. The pushing patterns are applied to everyday elements (fabric, grass, flowers…), with hyperrealistic details making the scene familiar but at the same time estranging. Well, in this case we cannot say patterns make happiness. Anyway, the work of Monica Rohan is incredibly beautiful and touching, with a deep exploration of the personal meaning of pattern.

–  Rica Cerbarano