In her portraiture, Rosso Emerald Crimson renders female subjects who emerge through a haze of pastels and muted tones. She infuses the 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 an 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 leafs and gilding. The creative process is deliberately chaotic in the making yet geared towards the achievement of a sense of harmony and a visually engaging imagery.
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Born and raised in Sicily, Rosso moved permanently to London in early 2000. She holds a 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 with her self-portrait “Madame Moustache”, a work challenging traditional binary gender notions. This was shortly followed by another first prize for the Holly Bush “Emerging Woman Painter Prize”, leading to Rosso’s first solo exhibition at CASSart headquarters gallery 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 natiowide on Sky and Channel4. In 2021, she was finalist in the renown “Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize”, which opened doors to collaborations and exhibitions internationally with galleries in US (Sugarlift, Principle Gallery), Canada (James Baerd Gallery), Norway (Romfjord Gallery), Germany (Stoerpunkt).
Rosso has been featured in Colossal, Create Mag, Evolved Mag, MyModernMet, Artists&Illustrator; The Artist’s Magazine, etc and her painting “Climate Rebel” (2019) was on cover of Arena Magazine (Australia); her work was sold to renown art collectors worldwide.
Since Spring 2022, Rosso has been active in web3, offering her fine art as NFTs. Her art was exhibited at NFTLiverpool, displayed on Times Square billboards during NFT_NYC, and selected to be on the tickets for NFTLondon.
Competitions and Awards
2021 — Finalist in the “Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize” 2021 (traditional art)
2021 — Honorable mention “Blue Review Art Prize” 2021 (New York)
2021 — Shortlisted for “The Viking Cruise Art Prize 2021” (A&I magazine)
2020 — Contestant in “Sky Portrait Artist of The Year SERIES 7”, Sky Arts
2019 — WINNER of the Portrait/Figure Prize of the “Jackson Open Painting Prize 2019” (JOPP2019)
2019 — “The Artist's Exhibition Award”, TALP OPEN 2019
2019 — “The Harbour Gallery Award”, TALP OPEN 2019
2019 — Contestant in “Sky Portrait Artist of The Year 2019”, Sky Arts
2018 — Shortlisted for “Artist of The Year 2018”, Mall Galleries (Artists and Illustrator)
2017 — WINNER of the “Holly Bush Emerging Woman Painter Prize 2017”
2016 — WINNER of the “Emerald Winter Pride Art Awards 2016”
2015 — Finalist at “ArtsDepot Open 2015”
PRESS & publications
Vogue India
Create Magazine
Evolved mag
Colossal
John Dalton Podcast (“Rosso Emerald Crimson Uncut”, an interview with John Dalton Dec.2021)
Artsummit
Artists&Illustrator
“Arena magazine”, cover for issue 161, Aug. 2019
The Artist’s Magazine
“Portraits for NHS Heroes”, Nov. 2020
“The Artist Magazine”, October issue, 2019
“Quotes - Inspirational quotations / Creative Responses”, Strawlitter Production, 2019
Anuario "Arte y Libertad XIII", Artelibre, 2018
The Guide Artists, Interview of the month, Issue 11, Jan. 2018
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Mimesis, Representanional Art 2023, MEAM Barcelona, Apr-June 2023
ARTDOM project, Oslo, April 2023
New artists exhibition, Principle Gallery (US) - November 2022
WAGMI, CAP Gallery, Kuwait City (Kuwait) - November 2022
NFT London (displayed on the entry ticket)
Woman, James Baird Gallery, Canada - October 2022
Uncurated, Stoerpunkt, Munich, July/Aug 2022
NFTNYC 2022 - June 21 - 24th
Many Moons, Rober Lange Studio Gallery, US - May/June 2022
Sky Art Self-portrait Exhibition, Compton Verney Hall, UK - Feb-June 2022
The Blue Review Art Prize exhibition, Sugarlift gallery, (New York/ online on Etsy), Nov. 2021
Major Figures, Saatchiart, Oct/Dec. 2021
Summer exhibition, GALLERI RAMFJORD, Oslo (July 2021)
“The Viking Cruise Art Exhibition” (shortlist group exhibition), London
“The Artists’ Exhibition”, with “The Artists Magazine”, Patching Art Centre, Notthingam
“Women in Art”, Zebra One Gallery, London (March 2021)
“Group Show”, Zebra One Gallery, London (Feb. 2021)
2019-2020
Summer Exhibition, Green & Stone Gallery, Fulham, London (Aug. 2020)
The Artist Collection, Patchings Art Centre, Nottinghamshire, October - November 2020
THE OTHER ART FAIR, CALM art collective x Connor Brothers, London, March 2020
Elevate 02, The Shard, London, December 2019
Art Fair East, Underdog Gallery, Norwich, November 2019
Utopia, BSMT relaunch, BSMT, London, October 2019
Summer Exhibition, Underdog Gallery, London, August 2019
The Artist Open Art Competition (TALP OPEN 2019), Patching Art Centre, Notthinghamshire, 2019
AFFORDABLE ART FAIR, Jackson Painting Prize Finalists, Hampstead Heath, May 2019
The Occult and Symbolism, Underdog Gallery, London, April 2019
Selected past exhibitions
Art Fair East, Underdog Gallery, Norwich (Dec 2018)
Rosso going Solo, The Art Space, Cass Art, Islington, London, (June 2018 - part of the Holly Bush Painter Prize 2017)
Artist of The Year 2018, Mall Galleries, London (Feb 2018)
AWE, Art Women and Evolution, The Bloosmbury, London (Feb 2018)
WIA women in art, Peggy Jay Gallery, Burgh House, Hampstead, London (2017)
Summer Show, Creative Debut, London (2017)
"The Londoner Compass", The Strand Gallery, London (2017)
"WITP", The Strand Gallery, London (2016)
"Tribe16", Chrom Art, The Ugly Duck, London (2016)
"It's Art Exhibition", D-Contemporary, Mayfair, London (2016)
"Debased", Cultivate collective, BSMT space, London (2016)
"The Human Figure: Myth and Storytelling", The Gallery, Stoke Newington, London (2016)
"Summer Salon", Islington Art Factory, London (2016)
"Emerald Life Winter Pride Art Awards", Islington Art Factory, London (2016)
"Hand Maid", S'A collective, Hoxton Arches Gallery, London(2016)
"Urban Art Experience", Nude Tin Can Gallery, St Albans (2016)
"Homunculus", Asylum, London (2016)
“ICADF 2015”, Islington Contemporary Art & Design Fair, London (2015)
“Painting & Sculpture”, Candid Art Gallery, London (2015)
“Portraits”, Espacio gallery, London (2015)
“Outsider Art Exhibition”, Candid Art Gallery, London (2015)
“FLUX”, Gray’s Art Gallery, London (2015)
“Seams”, Sweat’Art Collective, Hoxton Arches Gallery, London (2015)
“Royal Art in the World – Italian and Foreign Contemporary Art”, ROA Royal Opera Arcade, London (2015)
“NOT the Royal Academy”, Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, London (2014)
“Artsdepot Open 2014”, Artsdepot, London (2014)