ROSA FEDELE
ARTIST | AUTHOR
“For me, every painting and every book is a new adventure, started with a thrill of excitement and anticipation.”
Rosa Fedele is an Australian contemporary artist and author. Originally from Sydney, she studied at the prestigious Julian Ashton Art School, and is now based in the beautiful Southern Highlands, NSW.
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. Beginning with C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, and then Raymond E. Feist, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey and Frank Herbert, she devoured 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 in 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.
2024 ALMENARA ART PRIZE (Spain) | Finalist “MATILDA” & “JULIET”
2024 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE (JUNE) | CENTENNIAL VINEYARDS, BOWRAL | DREAM MACHINES & DOGGOS
2024 BOCCA ART & SCULPTURE PRIZE | Finalist “LEILANI ft 1960 VW Kombi”
2023 HUNTERS HILL ART PRIZE | Finalist “JULIET ft 1964 Mini Cooper”
2023 KENNEDY PRIZE | Foundation’s Choice “SO EXCITED FOR SPRING [I wet my plants]”
2023 BOCCA ART & SCULPTURE PRIZE | Finalist “CANYONLEIGH”
2022 COPES FAMILY PORTRAIT PRIZE | Finalist “Jeremy Wright AM” | Bowral Art Gallery
2022 BLUETHUMB ART PRIZE | Finalist “La Conca Del Sogno” Triptych
2022 DREAM MACHINES at The Fenwick | SOLO EXHIBITION | Fenwick Gallery, Balmain East
2022 DREAM MACHINES at the RACA | SOLO EXHIBITION | Royal Automobile Club of Australia
2021 DREAM MACHINES Primavera | SOLO EXHIBITION | Scooter Meccanica, Alexandria
2021 DREAM MACHINES | SOLO EXHIBITION | Bowral Art Gallery
2020 30th ANNIVERSARY ABEND MINIATURES SHOW | “MILANO” and “ORVIETO” ft. Vespa | Abend Gallery Denver USA
2020 JOHN COPES PORTRAIT PRIZE | Finalist “Threshold – Portrait of Actor|Musician Domenica Garrett”
2020 SHELTER | “GORDANA” | 33 Contemporary Gallery Chicago
2020 CREATOR AND THE MUSE | ‘THRESHOLD” | 33 Contemporary Gallery Chicago
2019 ADORN ME | A PoetsArtists Exhibition | 33 Contemporary Chicago
2018 THE LEGACY OF BEAUREGARDE | An Illustrated Suspense Novel | Published 10 July
2018 LETHBRIDGE 10000 | Finalist “Glorious Heights – Montaigne”
2017 PORTIA GEACH MEMORIAL ART PRIZE | Finalist “Montaigne”
2017 HUNTERS HILL ART EXHIBITION | JUDGE
2017 LANE COVE ART PRIZE | JUDGE
2017-2005 BALMAIN ART SHOW
2015 THE RED DOOR | An Illustrated Suspense Novel | Published 1 October
2013 MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA | NSW Parliament House
2012 THE ARTISTS’ BOOK | Portrait Artists Australia – Ten Years
2012 THE ARTISTS’ BOOK LAUNCH | “The Whimsical World of Zumbo” | Arthouse Hotel, Sydney
2012 CELEBRATING INNOVATORS EXHIBITION | Parliament House Canberra
2011 FACE OF AUSTRALIA EXHIBITION | NSW Parliament House
2011 ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE | Victorian Art Society, Melbourne
2010 LANE COVE ART PRIZE | Winner Oils “Fiore – Tryptych”
2010 THE ARTIST’S MUSE EXHIBITION | Arthouse Hotel, Sydney
2010 FACE\OFF EXHIBITION | MLC Gallery, Sydney
2008 MORTIMER ART PRIZE | Finalist “Tonight I’m Playing Kate in Pirates of Penzance”
2008 LANE COVE ART PRIZE | Highly Commended “Coffee @ Bertoni’s”
2007 LEXUS MORTIMER ART PRIZE | Finalist “Tim Freedman – The Whitlams”
2007 BEST FRIENDS EXHIBITION | Arthouse Hotel, Sydney
2005 FUR & FEATHERS EXHIBITION | Arthouse Hotel, Sydney
2005 ARTISTS ON NORTON | NSW Parliament House
2005 AUSTRALIAN ICONS SUITE | Balmain Gallery | Solo Exhibition
2005 REAL REFUSES | Tap Gallery, Darlinghurst
2003 JULIAN ASHTON ART SHOW | Argyle Centre, Sydney