“The creative process is deliberately chaotic in the making yet geared towards the achievement of a sense of harmony and visually engaging imagery,” says Rosso Emerald Crimson
Born and raised in Sicily, Rosso moved permanently to London in early 2000. She holds an MA in International Communications and Human Rights and worked in advertising before changing her direction to the visual arts. In her short but intense art career, she has won several art prizes, starting with the 2016 “Emerald Winter Pride Award”, organised by Pride UK, where she won the First Prize, shortly followed by another first prize for the Holly Bush “Emerging Woman Painter Prize”, leading to Rosso’s first solo exhibition in London. In 2019, Rosso was awarded the first prize for the portrait/figurative category at the “Jackson Open Painting Prize”.
She was selected to participate in “Sky Portrait Artist Of The Year” in 2019 and again in 2021, aired on British national TV. In 2021, she was a finalist in the renowned “Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize”, which opened doors to collaborations and exhibitions internationally with galleries in the US (Sugarlift, Principle Gallery), Canada (James Baerd Gallery), Norway (Romfjord Gallery), Germany (Stoerpunkt).
In her portraiture, Rosso Emerald Crimson renders female subjects which emerge through a haze of pastels and muted tones. She infuses dreamy oil paintings with responses to current affairs and questions about the future, which often serve as a catalyst for her projects. Issues of racial injustice, gender identity and environmental crisis have all played a major role in her work.
The women and girls are very charismatic and often depicted staring forward with unsmiling expressions. They are placed within abstract landscapes that defy any reference to objective reality. It is within these neutral settings that an intimate dialogue can emerge between the viewers and the characters, the content of which is very subjective.
Technically, while the portrayal of the figures is achieved by a meticulous rendering using traditional oil painting techniques, the deconstruction (and reconstruction) of the surrounding derives from the juxtaposition of different media, including spray paint, vigorous scraping and scratching of the surface and, occasionally, application of metal leaves and gilding. The creative process is deliberately chaotic in the making yet geared towards the achievement of a sense of harmony and visually engaging imagery.
The women and girls she draws are very charismatic and often depicted staring forward with unsmiling expressions.