TRACY ROCCA NEW PAINTINGS
TRACY ROCCA NEW PAINTINGS NOVEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 7. 2014
LewAllenGalleries Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com
cover: Plunge, 2014, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 60” x 60”
Deep End, 2014, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 48” x 96”
Tracy Rocca: NEW PAINTINGS but actually paints with her hands, using her fingertips to intuitively apply small additions of color and her palms to carefully blend before finishing with brushes. The trademark luminous glow that emerges at the center of her paintings behaves as a meditative focal point within a blurred array of dissolving colors and fleeting environmental comprehension, guiding the viewer to an introspective experience. Rocca continuously experiments with her work to find the most effective combination of outer elements to keep the viewer in the central light longer.
Celebrated neoimpressionist Tracy Rocca uses walnut oils and alkyd to apply thin glazes of color with each layer, blending and obscuring color and detail into unspecified, but familiar settings. It was her frequent childhood commute that led to her softened interpretations of landscape: Rocca realized that the faster she moved the more tranquil the roadside scenery appeared. Previously working photographs of Seattle and the Southwest, exploring the world around her through highly saturated color, Rocca now produces purely from her imagination; like in the haze of a pleasant dream, the particularity of place remains out of reach.
Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1974, Rocca moved frequently as a child, finally settling in Seattle to study advertising at the University of Washington. As a painter, now returned to her native New Mexico, she is largely selftaught. Since 2001, her work has been exhibited across the United States and has been featured in publications, such as The New York Times.
Rocca enjoys painting for its therapeutic qualities. In a world brimming with instantaneous digital tools, Rocca champions a slower, more contemplative painting process in an effort “to create a place where the mind can rest.” Reasserting the value of the human presence in the painting process, Rocca not only hand paints her canvases, 2
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Reef, 2014, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 60” x 60”
Dive Study, 2014, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 40” x 60” 4
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Dive, 2014,walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 60� x 144� 6
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Brimming, 2014,walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 48� x 120� 8
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Glow, 2013, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 48” x 48” 10
Field, 2013, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 30� x 30� 11
Clearing, 2013, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 24� x 24� 12
Coast, 2013, walnut oils & alkyd on polyester over panel, 36� x 36� 13
TRACY ROCCA
2008 2006 2005
BORN Albuquerque, NM 1974
2004
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 Tracy Rocca: New Paintings, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2012 Tracy Rocca: New Paintings, Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY 2010 Tracy Rocca: Wish You Were Here, Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA 2009 Tracy Rocca: New Paintings, Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY 2006 Walking Distance, Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA 2005 Tracy Rocca: New Paintings, Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2003 Random Order, Baran Lofts, San Francisco, CA 2001 At a Distance, Westin Hotel, Seattle, WA
2002
Road Trip, Nine Artists at the Uptown, The Uptown, Oakland, CA Natural Selection, Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA Spring Highlights, Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA Review, Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ Top 40, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA Open Surface, Hollis Street Projects, Emeryville, CA December Invitational, Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ Small Works, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA Chillin, Studio Z, San Francisco, CA Bay Area Artists, The Lift Gallery, San Francisco, CA Vivid, The G, San Francisco, CA
EDUCATION 2002 California College of the Arts Extended Education, Oakland, CA, Post Baccalaureate 1996 University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Bachelor of ArtsColor COLLECTIONS United States Embassy, Colombo Sri Lanka Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond Washington Ritz Carlton, Scottsdale Arizona University of New Mexico, Albuquerque New Mexico
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 Terra Incognito:Imaginary Landscape, The Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder, CO 2010 It’s All a Blur, The Shore Institute of The Contemporary Arts, Long Branch, NJ 2009 Art in Embassies, United States Embassy, Colombo, Sri Lanka Exposure: Focus on New Artists; Karan Ruhlen Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Red Hot; Karan Ruhlen Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
BIBLIOGRAPHY Traditional Home Magazine, May, 2012 Seattle Times, June 18th, 2010 Studio Visit Magazine. 2010, Vol. 11 Studio Visit Magazine. 2008, Vol. 2 Kips Bay: Coloring in the White Box, The New York Times, April 24, 2008
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Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com Š 2014 LewAllen Contemporary LLC Artwork Š Tracy Rocca