Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Barbara Rossi
American; 20th-century, 21st-century
Normal, IL: University Galleries of Illinois State University
72%
Nose Patterns. late 20th-early 21st century. Colored pencil on paper
Given the decorative density and strong coloration of much of her best known work, it's nice to see Rossi working in a nuts-and-bolts sort of register, just white ground and linework and nowhere to hide. Her proclivity for bulbousness is in full force here, but what's most worth noting is how economically she approaches it. Check out the buttocks just south of center in the bottom left figure — it takes a real draftsman to achieve something so corpulent through means so minimal. The hard line/dotted line schema contributes further to the appearance of empty fullness that makes this sketch so attractive. What's nice about the drawing in toto is how the four figures at first all look like rotations of the same object, but in fact are as different from each other as four different fractals. The inclusion of the phrase "nose patterns" is clarifying and confounding in equal measure. Though not an especially serious work, even by Imagist standards, this drawing is a delight. (2025)