Quick-n-Quack

Between the late 1960s and mid-70s, Barbara Rossi painted a large and varied series of complex and fantastic heads, each with a unique mood and emotion. Some, like Quick-n-Quack, utilize abstract and geometric conventions. Rossi fragments the head into organic shapes, which relate to one another and interlock to suggest a chin, a strand of hair, or clothing.

This anatomy of abstracted elements is reinforced by her painting technique: reverse painting on Plexiglass. She lays acrylic paint on the back of the clear plastic sheet in addition to minute details on the front. The primary image is seen through the “canvas” and in reverse, while the details seem to hover in front of it. Her meticulous craftsmanship, flat colors, and careful detailing also refer to the folk and vernacular art as well as Persian miniature painting that she admires.