Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Rosene. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Barbara Rosene is a committed, dedicated and self-taught painter who has also been a jazz vocalist for many years. She lives and works in New York City and in her small town in Ohio and has drawn on her life in the jazz clubs of New York for inspiration and also in the countryside and historic buildings of Ohio. For many years her art took the form of folk-art expression, but after nursing her mother through the final stages of dementia and a subsequent escape to an artist’s residency in France, Rosene emerged with a penchant and passion for abstracts. She uses a palette of colors which she hopes will bring a sense of calm, joy, and a determination to pursue what feels authentic and beautiful.
She has performed at Dizzy’s Birdland, The Iridium. Mezzrow’s and Smalls as well as The Montreal Jazz Festival and many jazz clubs in the US. She has had a recording career and has toured with The Harry James Orchestra for many years. And recorded and performed with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks. Throughout the decades, she has painted.
Rosene has built a body of work spanning from primitives to colorful abstract paintings. She is constantly reinventing her style, working on a range of work from primitive landscapes, New York Street scenes and jazz club interiors (where she has performed) to exploring the styles of color field painting and of abstract landscapes.
Career highlights include 2016’s X Contemporary Fair at Art Basel Miami, her relationship with The Hiromart Gallery in Tokyo which started in 2017, and December 2022’s exhibition with The George Billis Gallery at The Red Dot Fair at Art Basel Miami.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Raising a family largely on my own while trying to build a career. Trying to be a responsible and loving daughter and mother while trying to build a career. Caring for my mother throughout a life-ending illness while trying to maintain a presence in the world. Staying focused on my artistic expression when everyday life comes calling.
Being a creative person, but having to do marketing and promotion and self-management, when really all I want to do is paint and sing. This is truly an artist’s dilemma, especially now when art galleries and record labels do a minimal amount to promote artists, leaving so much of social media and self-promotion to fall on the artist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I began as a vocalist but always painted for my own sanity. Finally, I realized that I should be marketing my work and painting when I had downtime as a singer. The first result was a series of “primitive” paintings of jazz clubs where I had sung throughout the years. Later I moved to larger abstracts and then to abstract landscapes.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I’m not sure I know what this means…
I’m represented by Hudson Fine Art and Framing, Hiromart Gallery in Tokyo, and George Billis Gallery in Westport, CT.
My vocal career is with The Harry James Orchestra and through my own management, with smaller concerts and club dates.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.barbararosene.com and www.barbararosenepaintings.com
- Instagram: barbara_rosene
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbara.rosene/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_tm5dvNgOg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7u1X0WXyH8, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd8G0wKQZrc
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/barbara-rosene
