Suellen Rocca: Drawings

Works on paper from a leading member of the Hairy Who art collective

Suellen Rocca (born 1943) is perhaps best known for the work she made as a member of the Hairy Who, a group of six Chicago artists who exhibited together from 1966 to 1969. This book presents, for the first time, 30 works on paper made between 1981 and 2017. Building on the unique graphic vocabulary and innovative compositions of her 1960s work, these drawings represent a turn toward imagery she describes as more internal. Animals, trees and unclassifiable creatures are placed in densely patterned settings that carry a genuine emotional charge.

In the book’s essay, Cat Kron notes Rocca’s increased attention to the unconcious, tracing parallels between the artist’s anxious imaginings and the automatic drawing of the Surrealists. As Rocca puts it, I just begin, and the drawing is a journey between me and the marks on the paper.