Rosie Lee on Community and Culture
Curtis
Acrylic, 2018
Kardia: You’ve adopted a persona, an alias, which identifies your work and your life. What is the significance of the name Rosie Lee?
Rosie Lee: The name Rosie Lee pays homage to my grandmother, I do the work and she gets the credit. I would say coming from hip-hop culture, artists such as graffiti writers and emcees tagged and rhymed under an alias, so having an alias was natural and allows for me to be inconspicuous. Rosie Lee represents a woman, a black person, or someone of color and is a constant reminder that my artistic practice is bigger than myself. I’m determined to make the name Rosie Lee a global name in the art world.
K: You’re also a teacher. Throughout your life in and out of the visual academic world, have you had any significant relationships, creative or not, that have shaped you? How do you incorporate that inspiration into your work?
RL: Yes, definitely lots of people who have shaped my perspective, broadened my perspective and helped me to see something special that resides in myself. Most of my significant relationships are built around community and culture. I’ve been fortunate to have people, friends and many mentors. Many have been women like Viola Davis and Margie Reese who have shown me how to be fearless, take risks, be courageous and work with purpose. Their words but more importantly their actions of activism, stories, and questions have entered into my work, helped me when presenting to a diverse room of educators or teaching young people. In that way, I’m able to build community, recognize the cultural assets others in the room have, and open to learning from all kinds of people. What they have inspired me to do is to rethink what a canvas should look like. Is a canvas a piece of paper, a classroom, or picture frame waiting to be filled with a moment that is raw, intriguing and honest?
K: Has creativity and art always been incorporated in your life throughout your childhood up until now? Have there been times that you’ve been less creative? More?
RL: Always, but art in the beginning wasn’t formally stated as art. For example, I grew up singing in the choir, performing oratorical speeches, acting in church plays and doing monologues in college and performing poetry. I’m a better poet than painter. The whole time I was developing discipline and cultivating my artistic practice as a creative who is multi-talented, although, once again it wasn’t explicitly stated that you’re an artist doing art in this particular moment. The idea of being an artist as a child was organic and came naturally to me because I was inquisitive, observed lots of shit growing up both good and bad. There have been times when I don’t feel like creating, as if my brain needs to rest and take a day or two off from thinking. When I’m stressed the hell out I’m less creative, but then again, being creative is what opens up my mind or opportunities. So in the end being creative is typically what improves my mood.
Leimart Park
Acrylic and house paint
2020
K: What would you say is your most important duty as an artist in current times? How do you aim to achieve this duty in your work?
RL: I would say most important duty as an artist right now is authenticity. Within authenticity is truth, honesty and an acknowledgement of what you feel, think and want to say. Authenticity is where your voice is housed and protected. If I can create something and my voice or the voice of God says, “well done,” the hell with what everyone else has to say about what I’m doing. My duty as an artist is to present something real, something that stands for something, something that adds value to someone’s life. If what you’re creating doesn’t have value and doesn’t add to your purpose in life, then why are you doing it to begin with? As an artist, as a creative my duty is to create, to make art, to make people think and see what is possible.
Detroit Back Bottoms
Acrylic and house paint
2020
K: What makes you feel alive and sparked with creativity in and out of the studio? Do you have any routines or activities that help with your creative process?
RL: I like people watching. I enjoy sitting in coffee shops and taking notes on how people move, dress, and talk on cellphones , especially when they think people aren’t listening. Another way to clear my mind is take a bike ride, turning on some jazz music and looking for different color combinations in nature. I try to make it a habit to light some incense, pray or meditate in the space before working on a new piece. Also, the music has to be right in order to find a groove. I might put a song on repeat until that feeling moves in another direction because it is about being in a zone. This zone should allow you to take risks, be free, and challenge you to grow. Eventually, when my energy is low in the studio I step away to eat, walk or ride until something sparks my attention to go back into the studio.
K: Your “Social and Cultural” works are a compilation of paintings that highlight societal, racial and cultural issues and topics. What are some questions and conversations that you hope your viewers will ask or participate in when they view your work?
RL: First, I would want them to ask a question to further understand the work or question their own understanding about a particular subject matter. If my art is making someone think and react that means they have looked and analyzed the piece as opposed to feeling indifferent. There are a range of emotions that went into creating that work from celebratory to disappointment and even sadness, so I want people to simply reflect and get to the message behind the message because the work is layered.
Public School Complex
Acrylic
2018
K: In your “Lines and Color” series, you’ve produced abstracted works playing with shapes, color and textures. Is this a direction you see yourself continuing in with your new works?
RL: I’m really excited about “lines and color.” The idea of making the simple profound is a goal of mine artistically. As far as a genre of art or era that has influenced my work would be abstract expressionism. After graduate school I decided to go back and visit some past work, my past approach and refine what I was doing then in comparison to what I was doing in school. The series is going to open up a whole new audience to my work and take my career to the next level, mark my words.
Red, Black, Earth and Sky
Acrylic and house paint
2020