BARDOLINO Print

“For me, every painting and every book is a new adventure, started with a thrill of excitement and anticipation.” Artist and author Rosa Fedele, daughter of Italian migrants to Australia, was forbidden from pursuing an artistic career. Finally able to follow her vocation in adulthood, she studied at the prestigious Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney. Unconstrained by conventional expectations, her work is genre-defying, often veering into the world of whimsy. Her preferred medium is oil, her style a blend of figurative, illustrative and a touch of absurdism. Whimsical, playful and nostalgic, the DREAM MACHINES series is a vibrant and joyful collection of works celebrating vintage cars and Italian scooters, often accompanied by darling doggos and romantic beauties from the silver screen. “I’m passionate about preserving these wonderful old beasts on canvas; reflections and sunshine flashing off seductively curvaceous chrome, the patina of old duco, bumpers wrapped lovingly around steel bodies, the layers of colour and texture and, of course, delicious red rust. DREAM MACHINES will take you on a heart-warming and nostalgic ride in your favourite classic convertible, Italian silk scarf billowing in the breeze and faithful hound by your side.” Rosa fell avidly in love with books at a very young age. Her favourites were those by C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, and later on Raymond E. Feist, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey and Frank Herbert; in fact, anything with beautiful and spellbinding words and imagery that would allow her to escape into other worlds. Taking a leap from creating pictures with a brush, Rosa transitioned to conveying images with words, publishing two illustrated suspense novels, both set in Sydney of the past. Both Rosa’s art and writing is sumptuously decadent and wickedly eccentric: blurring the line between reality and truth, she challenges the viewer and the reader to suspend their disbelief and enjoy the melodrama. Her debut illustrated suspense novel THE RED DOOR was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream, to interweave a story with pictures and draw the reader into her own bewitching, and slightly dark-edged, world. The sequel to her modern gothic mystery THE LEGACY OF BEAUREGARDE was released 10 July 2018. Rosa’s work has been exhibited in NSW Parliament House and Parliament House Canberra, as well as numerous galleries and exhibitions in Australia and worldwide.