Edward Del Rosario

Lower East Side Printshop released three etchings with hand coloring by Edward del Rosario through Special Editions Residency Program in 2006

Edward del Rosario makes jewel-like paintings and drawings of figures set against pristine monochromatic backgrounds. Involved with performance art earlier in his career, del Rosario first approached drawing through ink sketches of his performances. Although no longer active in performance, he has retained a strong interest in the theatrical aspect of the medium. This affects and informs his working method, and how he thinks about his work. Del Rosario composes free-floating narratives like a director blocking a scene, and prefers the word theatrical to fantastical when describing his images. 

Unlike his clear, highly detailed drawing style, his narratives are obscure. At first glance, his figures seem to evolve from children’s book illustrations; on closer inspection, they reveal a strangely sinister side. Containing references to Asian iconography, American pop culture and Catholicism, del Rosario’s narratives emerge from an exploration of identity and culture. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents of Filipino descent, he is attuned to the power struggles within families possessing multiple cultural alliances. Del Rosario envisions his narratives as a complex game in which the figures represent members of opposing cultural teams. They compete for power, often with no clear winner, and the end result is usually an assimilation of cultural images.

The vibrantly hand-colored costumes and props in del Rosario’s three etchings made at LESP serve as cultural signifiers distinguishing the Old World from the New, the East from the West. In Reformations (2006), for example, he juxtaposes a figure in an Asia-inspired dragon costume with a group of young women dressed as Playboy bunnies. In Counter-Reformations (2006), he juxtaposes an actual dragon — a powerful symbol in Asian cultures — with school-age girls in J-Crew sweaters and skirts. And in Inquisitions (2006), a group of young men, whom del Rosario calls New Traditionalists, wear pinstripe suits and march blindly behind their leader, who carries a sword. The formal suits represent a link to the West, while the sword recalls older, Eastern traditions. These costumes and props are integral to del Rosario’s ever-evolving narrative, uniting all his work, regardless of medium.

- Excerpt from essay written by Samantha Rippner, Editions '06