“This print was inspired by the discovery of my 1950’s doll house furniture found tucked away in a sturdy box in a corner of my basement. It is based on a series of drawings I made to explore the worldly and un-worldly connections between plastic doll house “Mother” — rigid, hinged, perfectly coiffed, wearing a coral-colored dress with sturdy black heels — and the plastic doll house “Bed.” Using line and flat shapes, this diagrammatic, chart-like poster records ten of their encounters.” —Suellen Rocca
Signed and Numbered
Suellen Rocca was born in Chicago in 1943. Shortly after graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1964, she began exhibiting with five other artists under the name the Hairy Who. The group’s exhibitions, which took place in Chicago and other cities between 1966 and 1969, drew national and international attention and went on to influence generations of artists. Recent one-person exhibitions include Bare Shouldered Beauty, Works from 1965 to 1969 (2016) and Drawings (2018), both Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, and her work has been featured in Hairy Who? 1966 - 1969, The Art Institute of Chicago (2018); 3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art, 1964–1980, The Tang Museum, Sarato- ga Springs, NY (2018); and Famous Artists from Chicago. 1965-1975, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2017). Rocca lived and worked in Romeoville, Illinois, and also oversaw nearby Elmhurst College’s collection of Chicago Imagist art as curator and director of exhibitions.
“Suellen Rocca was long one of my favorite Chicago-based painters, and an artist who was always there for other artists. A tireless champion of the superlative collection of Imagists she had helped amass at Elmhurst College, she also organized symposia, panels, and other activities to explore Chicago’s rich history. Often unheralded both as an artist and curator, recent years saw much-deserved recognition, which she clearly cherished, acknowledging it with her modest smile and always a twinkle in her eyes. She emerged as not only the important artist she always was, but a proud spokesman for the Hairy Who group which had launched her back in the 1960s. "The Mother and the Bed” is a charming addition to her long career.“ —Lynne Warren, MCA Chicago
