Rosabel Rosalind

Born and raised in the Valley of Southern California, Rosabel Rosalind received her BFA in printmaking and painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017. In 2018, Rosabel received a Fulbright Austria Research Grant to work with the Jewish Museum Vienna’s Schlaff Collection of anti-Semitic postcards. As a result of this research, she exhibited in solo exhibitions at Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier and Improper Walls Gallery. Rosabel has been included in group exhibitions at the Jewish Museum Maryland, the McDonough Museum of Art, the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2023 Rosabel graduated with her MFA at Carnegie Mellon University and she is currently based in Pittsburgh, PA.

Artist Statement:

Using a combination of drawing, painting and comics, I build fictional worlds that render the familiar strange and collapse the past, present and future into a sublime mythology. My public art practice shares this same intentional spirit in that it conveys a story that challenges perceived boundaries. In my studio I’m concerned with fusing the boundaries between history and mythology, sacred and profane, good and evil, etc. In my public-facing work, I’m concerned with the spatial and social perceived boundaries between inside and outside and public and private. Furthermore, I find intrigue in the stories of the past, present and future that humans create, be it cultural doctrine, local mythology or conspiracy theory. Every public site contains a multitude of stories that I engage with as a medium and context, through which to develop meaningful community-oriented artwork. Broadly, my work always uses humor, melodrama and the uncanny in a way that encourages close-looking, illuminates the idiosyncrasies of the mundane and celebrates the mysteries of the human condition.

Photo by Rebecca Shapass