Libretto, Roe

“Since 1974, Roe LiBretto’s work has been internationally exhibited in juried gallery and open exhibitions. She has received private and public commissions and, in 2018, was designated a Local Treasure by the Albuquerque Art Business Association.

Though her earlier exhibited work was abstract, Roe has created figurative works for more than 50 years. Her current allegorical watercolors contain elements of universal stories presented as a conglomerate of borrowed religious and personal iconography. Their purpose is to create an opportunity for the viewer to gain insight into their own subconscious/unconscious self. As such, each painting serves as a meditative piece presented in an unusual, contemporary, eye-catching way.

The grainy texture in them is created by painting over a finished watercolor with a topcoat of ink or tempera paint and, after that topcoat is dry, washing the painting. Roe uses this technique to create work that, “… most closely resembles the imagery as it appears to me, as if a scrim upon which these characters perform was dropped between me and the physical world.” The act of washing each painting also ritualizes her acknowledgment that a painting is the physical manifestation of information found in what Carl Jung referred to as the collective unconscious. It is her way of relinquishing ego attachment. Though the technique is the same for each piece, the final texture varies depending on the underlying painting surface.

Roe LiBretto’s work is held in private collections in the United States and Europe and can be seen locally at Ghostwolf Gallery in Old Town, Albuquerque.”

Website: https://www.roelibrettofineart.com/

Episode: Allegorical Art, Roe Libretto