Biography
Barbara Rossi was born in Chicago in 1940 into a Roman Catholic household. Throughout her life, Rossi was determined to become a nun in order to dedicate her life to the church. She attended St. Xavier College, but decided to pursue a career as an artist during her religious education. Rossi then attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for her graduate program. She was greatly influenced by her teachers, especially Ray Yoshida, Whitney Halstead, and Vera Berdich. Her inspiration grew throughout the 1960s while exploring Chicago galleries, museums, and the art of printmaking. In 1970, Rossi was invited to participate in The Marriage Chicaco Style Exhibition by Don Baum. She is also associated with the Chicago Imagists group of the 1960s and 1970s, a group of representational artists who are associated with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago that primarily exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Rossi had the opportunity to travel to different countries to teach and exhibit art. She drew inspiration from Indian painting traditions in particular, and incorporated numerous techniques into her art during this era. Rossi passed away peacefully in 2023 at age 83. She is celebrated in current times for her surrealism, reverse acrylic paintings on plexiglas, the abstraction of colorful figures, and cartoonish humor of subjects.
Source of Biography
https://hyperallergic.com/841536/beloved-chicago-imagist-barbara-rossi-dies-at-82/
https://www.nga.gov/features/exhibitions/outliers-and-american-vanguard-artist-biographies/barbara-rossi.html
https://www.kohlerfoundation.org/preservation/major-collections/barbara-rossi/