ROSA ROBERTS
B. 1984

Born in 1984, Rosa Roberts grew up in Norfolk on a fruit farm, and moved to London with her family in her teenage years, later studying Fine Art at Central St Martin's. She ran a business which designed and ran drawing workshops in London Museums for 8 years until deciding to go full-time as a painter in 2020.

"My paintings usually start from observational sketching at home, in the studio, or outside in Nature. The large works tend to be the result many iterations of the initial sketches until I have settled on a final composition, colour way and materials.

"I was in Bali just before lockdown and did a lot of sketch paintings while I was there, partly to calm my nerves at the rising chaos around the coronavirus situation. I have worked a lot from these balinese sketches and developed new compositions from the initial sketches many times and pushed my technique as far as I can to develop a new aesthetic in my work.

"I have always been very inspired by travel and the tropics and long haul trips to hot places usually resulted in a lot of creative response from me. Plants, nature, tropical motifs and rich jewel colours have been constant themes in the last three years of painting. Bold gestural marks are almost always present.

"My use of texture has developed greatly in this last period of intense creative work and my surfaces are now invariably built up with cardboard and collage. The crevices and gaps between the chunks that form the base of each painting are an important part of the work. I put a lot of work into the texture of the surfaces I work on, planning them out and building them up across days. Pattern, directional mark and layering are all important to my work and I'm always trying to capture the vibrance and beauty of 'alive things'." - Rosa Roberts

Rosa Roberts

b. Norwich, 1984

Education

BA Fine Art, Central St Martins College of Art and Design, London, 2007

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibition

Heroes, TM Lighting, London, December/January 2023/24

Palm Leaves and Black Seeds, LivingStone St Ives Clelsea and Bristol October/November 2022

Group Exhibitions

Arcadia and Elsewhere, James Cohan Gallery, New York, January/February 2024

Act One, Noho Showrooms London, August 2022

Art For Charity Collective Inaugural Exhibition, Unit 1 Gallery London, June 2022

Spring Greens, Livingstone St Ives Bristol, March/April 2022

4 Artists, Josie Eastwood Gallery, Stockbridge, Feb - March 2022

Collage, Twenty Twenty Gallery, Ludlow, March 2022

The Autumn Exhibition, Josie Eastwood Fine Art, Stockbridge, October 2021

M.A.H for London Design Festival, London, September 2021

Art East 2021, Norfolk October 2021

Art on a Postcard Summer Auction and Exhibition 2021

Exhibition No 6 at Morgans, Falmouth, September /October 2021

The Spring Exhibition, Mint, London 2021

Green Fires, Online with The Violet Hour March 2021

Works on Paper 3, Blue Shop Cottage, London 2021

Crumpled Papers, Online at Paperback London, 2020

Mosaic, Mint, London, May 2019

The Other Art Fair, London, October 2018

Studio Sale, The Bussey Building Peckham, June 2018

Metacraft, Mint, London, May 2017

Painted Surface, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, August 2015

Contours of Spring, Mint, London, May 2015

Light Reflections, Mint, London, May 2014

Investigations in Landscape and Place, The Friary, London, April 2013

The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, April 2011

Homeworks, Mint, London, September 2011

Interiors and Landscapes from the South of France, Depot 20, Nice, August 2010

The Trouble with Women, Menier Gallery, London,  February 2010

Good Company, Depot 20, Nice, September 2009

Drawing Affinities, Menier Gallery, London, May 2008

Degree Show, Central St Martins College of Art and Design, London, May 2007

Residencies and Awards

The Ranelagh Press Award

Studio Residency, 20 Hoxton Square, London, August – November 2007