C. J. Rosenthal’s work explores the fraught relationship between humanity and “nature” and the myriad ways our anthropocentric view of the cosmos shapes our attitudes and behavior towards the natural world. His paintings and prints attempt to dissolve the nature/culture divide, revealing modern human activity as a contrary and destructive force.

Rosenthal’s work spotlights the fact that humans are not separate from nature, and like all animals are subject to the ebb and flow of energy and entropy. The mutiple ecological crises gathering at the horizon—and the man‑made disasters already unfolding—are both warnings and reminders of Earth’s long cycles of extinction and renewal. The sixth mass extinction appears not only as a catastrophe but as a profound turning of the planetary wheel.

During the last decade, several disturbing events have sharpened Rosenthal’s focus on the immediate: political polarization, the rise of Christo-fascism and white supremacist ideologies, and the accelerating drumbeat of climate‑driven catastrophe. These forces, intertwined and escalating, lend his work a heightened urgency.

Rosenthal’s paintings and works on paper are held in private and public collections around the world.