SHEENA ROSE
Hailing from the Caribbean, multidisciplinary artist Sheena Rose’s relaxed figures challenge centuries of demands for Black labor and instead, finds empowerment through leisure. Sheena’s buoyant art practice comprises powerful images that are unafraid to challenge stereotypes. Rooted in her Caribbean heritage, many of her figures represent a powerful self image, imbued with iconography that extend beyond the borders of her hometown of Bridgetown. Saturated with fashion, textiles, and interiors, her paintings on canvas tell stories, deeply personal and rebellious, emanating vivid color, pattern, and anecdote. Rose captures exuberant expressions of belonging across athletic platforms and social strata with work that not only explores recreation and heroic athleticism, but also emphasizes camaraderie and connectedness.
Recent and upcoming exhibitions include EXPO Chicago, Museum of the African Diaspora (SF), Saatchi Gallery (London) curated by June Sarpong, SFMoMA “Get in the Game” curated by Seph Rodney, The Lowe Museum (FL), and 1-54 (London), curated by caryl ivrisse crochemar.
Sheena Rose
Sheena Rose’ vivid scenes, meticulously rendered in paint, invite joyful, playful, envious, and optimistic ways of seeing Black bodies. Conceptually, she shows that her subjects can do more in art and life than signify struggle. Instead, the artist represents Black bodies in vignettes and non-linear narratives. Her subjects are in conversation or engaged in leisure. Their active recreation celebrates the joy of mental and physical prowess. Beauty, indoors and outside, gives pleasure and relaxation. Her paintings exist in the world and are distinguished and exceptional for the tender intimacy and emotional depths they impart.
-Natasha Becker, Curator of African Art, deYoung Museum
“Rose’s work dramatically and precisely challenges everything without ever losing any of the layers of the process, and without giving up any agency that lays within intentionally claiming and challenging heritage.”
"Sheena Rose lives within her own rich interior and vibrant exterior world which enables and empowers her to reflect on her past and imagine her future."
- Natasha Becker
“By obscuring their faces with voluminous hairstyles, Rose anonymizes them into what she calls “avatars” – Kristen Wawruck
She studies and explores a wide range of topics and fields such as mathematics, minerals, flora and music. The power of timing in musical composition is something she applies when creating her own art. She hopes that her works “can change someone’s heartrate like music,” says the artist who plays steel pan, piano, and bass clarinet. When composing her own works, she adds that she “likes to agitate people sometimes” to “trap them” first and then get ready for a conversation. Informed by her studies of English literature, which is still imbedded in the Barbadian education system, Rose questions how cultural content defines art, and the implications of such definitions.
About the Artist
Sheena Rose is a visual artist who works in Bridgetown, Barbados. Her multi-disciplinary practice includes painting, drawing, performance, new media, public art, and mixed media. Her heroic figures explore accessibility of personal power, referencing symbols of affluence and place. Her painting style is characterized by flat coloring, bold patterns from the seventies and eighties, and vivid, comic-book-like palettes and vignettes. Her proud figures take up literal and figurative space, donning clothes, hair and confidence that command attention. Situated in a myriad of contexts – the tropics, interiors, athletic platforms – they are symbolic celebrations of the artist’s imagination. Rose is curious about a generous world, where she can move freely and be present as her whole self in any space. She unlocks a certain freedom while querying real life strategies on how to get there. “We are more than just the Sea, Sand, and Sun, we are our ancestors, our roots, and our heritage.”
She’s A Knockout: Artist Sheena Rose on Diasporas, Venus Williams and (of course) Rihanna | May 2, 2024 by Racquet Magazine
“I started getting into the sports and looking at the athletes—their histories, their experiences, their bodies in motion and body language, their coaches, their backgrounds,” she recalls. “I started painting these fun disco characters, and then my breakthrough moment was when I had the idea to put a tennis racquet in one of their hands. That was the first work involving sports.” LINK
Sheena Rose’s Lexicon of Black Liberation | March 13, 2023 by Kristen Wawruck
“The Barbados-based artist Sheena Rose, in a powerful solo debut, Earth Black Lipstick, …17 joyful, brightly colored paintings that show Black figures engaged in acts of leisure and sport. By obscuring their faces with voluminous hairstyles, Rose anonymizes them into what she calls “avatars”— composites of herself, friends, and strangers sourced from Pinterest, Instagram and her own travels.” LINK
Caribbean artists find space at Black Basel | November 19, 2022 by Barbados Loop
“…Barbadian artist Sheena Rose, whose career is on fire following coverage by The New York Times and Vogue, scored commissions for her vibrant, acrylic-based murals from institutions in Des Moines, Iowa (2022) and Washington, D.C. (2019)….” LINK
A Seat at the table’ exhibition celebrates women | March 16, 2023 by Barbados Loop LINK
British personality Miquita Oliver rocks first Sheena Rose dress in UK [British Fashion Awards] | October 31, 2022 by Barabados Loop
“Oliver said that how she came to own the design was very much a thing of fate almost and therefore, she promised Rose that whenever she donned the dress it would be for a huge night which would garner her much attention.” LINK
5 Sizzling Emerging Artists | August 30, 2022 ArtNews.com
“Barbadian artist Sheena Rose (b. 1985) creates bright, eye-catching works that depict Black women engaging in athletic feats from surfing to tennis using a distinctive graphic style that feels at once reminiscent of 1970s poster and cartoon design while remaining highly contemporary.” LINK
Sheena Rose: A Visual and Performance Artist Channels Her Challenges Into Creation | January 31, 2021 by Alia Akaam for hospitalitydesign.com
“Even before the pandemic reached North America, 2020 was off to a dispiriting start for Sheena Rose. After several years of baffling health struggles, the Barbadian contemporary artist was diagnosed with lupus; just a week later she was held at gunpoint. Then, the world began to shut down.” Link
A Conversation with Sheena Rose 2021 by Dr. Emily Stamey, Curator of Exhibitions at Weatherspoon Art Museum
“Since June, the Weatherspoon’s atrium has been enlivened with a dynamic new artwork by artist Sheena Rose, MFA ‘16. Filling an entire wall of this gathering space, the brightly colored work greets people as they enter, sits with students as they wait for classes to begin, and provides a lively backdrop for selfies and group photos.” Link
Sheena Rose: Dramatically Removing the Landscape | November 16, 2020 by Heike Dempster for Whitewall.com
“Contemporary artist Sheena Rose was born in 1985 in Bridgetown, Barbados, where she also currently lives and works. A Fulbright Scholar who holds a BFA from Barbados Community College and MFA from the University of North Carolina, Rose’s work is equally rooted in her Caribbean heritage as it is in her efforts to challenge any preconceived notions and definitions of said heritage.” Link
18 Feminist Artists Emma Watson love and you will too | March 7, 2018 by Emma Watson for Vogue Australia “I’ve always felt we don’t hear enough about female artists from the Caribbean and it’s been great to see Sheena Rose be discovered by the US press. I loved the honesty and fun of her “Sweet Gossip” series which really convey raw moments of human interaction really well.” Link
Artists in Barbados Reveal the Beauty of Negative Space | 2018 by Emma Glassman-Hughes for Here Magazine “Her brusqueness as both a Caribbean woman and a Caribbean artist has a tendency to stun. “My honesty draws people’s attention,” Rose says. “I don’t hold back. I say what I want to say. It makes people uncomfortable to hear the truth.” Link
The Artist Sheena Rose is Reaching Beyond Barbados | May 31, 2017 by Tamara Best for The New York Times
“Almost every room in Sheena Rose’s family home, tucked away on a quiet street here, has played host to her paintings and live performance art.” Link
Sizzling Emerging Artists | August 30, 2022 ArtNews.com
“Barbadian artist Sheena Rose (b. 1985) creates bright, eye-catching works that depict Black women engaging in athletic feats from surfing to tennis using a distinctive graphic style that feels at once reminiscent of 1970s poster and cartoon design while remaining highly contemporary.” LINK
Sheena Rose: A Visual and Performance Artist Channels Her Challenges Into Creation | January 31, 2021 by Alia Akaam for hospitalitydesign.com
“Even before the pandemic reached North America, 2020 was off to a dispiriting start for Sheena Rose. After several years of baffling health struggles, the Barbadian contemporary artist was diagnosed with lupus; just a week later she was held at gunpoint. Then, the world began to shut down.” Link
A Conversation with Sheena Rose 2021 by Dr. Emily Stamey, Curator of Exhibitions at Weatherspoon Art Museum
“Since June, the Weatherspoon’s atrium has been enlivened with a dynamic new artwork by artist Sheena Rose, MFA ‘16. Filling an entire wall of this gathering space, the brightly colored work greets people as they enter, sits with students as they wait for classes to begin, and provides a lively backdrop for selfies and group photos.” Link
Sheena Rose: Dramatically Removing the Landscape | November 16, 2020 by Heike Dempster for Whitewall.com
“Contemporary artist Sheena Rose was born in 1985 in Bridgetown, Barbados, where she also currently lives and works. A Fulbright Scholar who holds a BFA from Barbados Community College and MFA from the University of North Carolina, Rose’s work is equally rooted in her Caribbean heritage as it is in her efforts to challenge any preconceived notions and definitions of said heritage.” Link
18 Feminist Artists Emma Watson love and you will too | March 7, 2018 by Emma Watson for Vogue Australia “I’ve always felt we don’t hear enough about female artists from the Caribbean and it’s been great to see Sheena Rose be discovered by the US press. I loved the honesty and fun of her “Sweet Gossip” series which really convey raw moments of human interaction really well.” Link
Artists in Barbados Reveal the Beauty of Negative Space | 2018 by Emma Glassman-Hughes for Here Magazine “Her brusqueness as both a Caribbean woman and a Caribbean artist has a tendency to stun. “My honesty draws people’s attention,” Rose says. “I don’t hold back. I say what I want to say. It makes people uncomfortable to hear the truth.” Link
The Artist Sheena Rose is Reaching Beyond Barbados | May 31, 2017 by Tamara Best for The New York Times
“Almost every room in Sheena Rose’s family home, tucked away on a quiet street here, has played host to her paintings and live performance art.” Link
Sheena Rose (b. 1985, Bridgetown, Barbados) has exhibited in the United States at The Hole (New York, NY); Museum of African Diaspora (San Francisco, CA); Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro, NC); De Buck Gallery (New York); Connect Gallery (Chicago, IL), Johansson Projects (Oakland, CA), the Museum of African Diaspora (SF) and has upcoming group exhibitions at the Lowe Museum in Florida (2024) and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2024-2025). Internationally she has exhibited at the Havana Biennial (Cuba); ICF, Royal Academy of Arts (London, England); Berlin Biennale (Berlin, Germany); the University of the West Indies (Barbados); Saatchi Gallery (London) curated by June Sarpong; and 1-54 (London), curated by Caryl Ivrisse Crochemar. Her work has been acquired by collectors Venus Williams, Seith Mann, and the Barbados National Art Gallery, she’s been featured in publications including The New York Times, Travel & Leisure Magazine, Vogue, Hospitality Design, White Wall, Wetranfer, Black Futures, Fox Television Empire Season 6, and on the cover of the novel “The Star Side of Bird Hill” written by Naomi Jackson. Public works include a two-story mural at the Inter-American Development Bank Headquarters (Washington DC) and a mural for the exhibition “The Other Side of Now” at the Perez Art Museum (Miami). She was also commissioned by the DSM Public Art Foundation to design seven bus shelters in the 6th Avenue Corridor (Iowa). Rose won the Greensboro School of Art Distinguished Alumni award and in 2014, she received the distinguished Fulbright Scholarship. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and currently lives and works in her hometown of Bridgetown, Barbados.