Ronald Gosses knows how to make an impression.
Tall, sharply dressed in tailored black and with a shaved head.
Then step into his house. From the outside it’s a neat, but unassuming home in a rural Bowling Green
development.
Inside the parlor extends back toward the pond in the rear. Paintings, European masters and early
American classics, hang from the walls stacked, salon style, the light subdued as in an old country
manor.
Making impressions is how Gosses has made his living. He’s worked with major retailers designing
everything from stores to catalogs. He imported fine furniture and fixtures, and designed his own as
well. He’s collaborated with the design houses of Oleg Cassini, Tommy Hilfiger, Nolan Miller, Niedemaier
and Pucci International. Now at 62 he wants more than anything to make a impression with his painting.
Gosses was involved in art since growing up in Toledo His mother, also a painter, was an art teacher and
his father painted some as well.
In the last eight months, though, his work has taken on a new dimension… literally.
Because of a childhood accident that damaged one eye, Gosses was not able to see in three-dimensions. But
fitted out with new glasses, he regained his ability to see in dimensions. That led to a change in his
work. Before his paintings were representational, streetscapes, or bold creations such as
"Freedom," an image of a gun aimed at the viewer, that was the people’s choice award winner in
the NoWOH exhibit at BGSU last summer.
This summer one of his new paintings, "Journey into Dementia: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow," with
swirling, thick strokes of painting moving from hot reds to misty white, won the same honor at the
exhibit.
The painting’s rugged surface, like those of his other recent work, is possible because of the
improvement in his eyesight. When he started seeing in three-dimensions, he said, "I knew I would
have to take another step from representation to abstract."
The paintings have no hidden meanings. "The mystery of the world is the visible, not the
invisible," Gosses said. "Let the person looking at the artwork see what they want to
see."
Still his paintings have subtleties. As the viewer scans "Journey into Dementia" from left to
right, the shifting color
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scheme reflects the loss of color a person going blind experiences, losing first the reds and then the
blues, and finally the yellows.
Gosses builds up the surfaces of his paintings not only with paint, but with found objects, like the mask
in his celebration of Mardis Gras.
Gosses new work has found favor not only locally but in shows in Seoul, South Korea and New York City.
Soon he will be moving with his wife, Diana, back to the Hudson River Valley in New York to be closer to
the New York art scene.
Gosses returned to Northwest Ohio in 2005 to help his elderly parents. Once here he dove into the local
art scene becoming president of the Toledo Art Club.
Of most interest to him was helping young artists. His guidance didn’t focus on art, he said, but about
"marketing… what they really need to learn, how to be involved with business."
That’s not something they cover in art school, Gosses said.
Painter Sal Schiciano, who came back to Toledo after graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Art, said
Gosses with "very enthusiastic" about assisting young artists.
He provided leads to galleries and competitions. Some worked out, some didn’t, but Gosses always provided
a view to the greater world.
An artist works alone so much and has to do so much on their own that sometimes promotion becomes a
lesser priority, Schiciano said. When they reach out they may face "getting rejections, after
rejections, after rejections… It’s helpful to have someone else who knows what’s going on with the
world."
Like many other artists, Schiciano said he "tends to be introverted."
Gosses helped him move beyond that, teaching him the importance of projecting an image.
"You have to create a persona. You have to create a mystique for somebody to notice you,"
Gosses said.
It’s all about making an impression.
The painting and helping artists, his wife, Diana, told him, "is just an extension of all the things
in your life, your life as a designer."
Gosses is reveling in the success of his paintings, but gaining fame for its own sake isn’t his aim.
"If I can make a name for myself," he said, "naturally I can help more people."
