Rocky Dobey

Welcome Home, outsider artist etched copper, paint, diamonds in aluminum frame

2023

HOME SWEET HOME by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with cut diamonds, black asphaltum and fired porcelain paint. It measures 36 x 24", and framed in bronze it measures 37 x 25”. Part of the "Home" series of recent works, Home Sweet Home features a darkly shimmering chandelier...

CHECKMATE by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with black ink, acrylic paint, and asphaltum. It is framed in aluminum and measures 108 x 48”. It features some of the artist’s notable motifs – the number 13-1/2 (refers to 12 jurors, 1 judge, half a chance), a monstrous tower of brick with crenelated towers, inlaid with eyes, hooked daggers and barred windows, clouds with lightening bolts, tongues of flame drifting down... Though the swirl of black cloud near the top of the tower also rewards our attention – the engraving here suggesting floral as well as cosmic patterns, biological patterns. Checkmate also contains more subtle mark-making and ritualized ornamentation, such as the wheat sheafs across the expanse of copper, names of people are inscribed in the borders of the tower, vertical hash marks counting off months or years in bundles of five. For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness. With striking imagery of demonic towers toppled in flames, horrific machines and cryptic symbols of oppression, Rocky's work soon became a recognized and sought-after stamp of organized resistance. Several of his prints are held in collections, particularly the “Carnival Against Capitalism” poster he produced for the 2001 Quebec City protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Rocky’s poster...

DOES IT LOOK EXPENSIVE by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with cut glass, asphaltum and fired porcelain paint. It measures 24 x 36" and is fr...

MEDUSA by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with cut diamonds, blue machinist ink and fired porcelain paint. It measures 36 x 48", and framed in aluminum it measures 37 x 49”. It features some of the artist’s notable motifs – a monstrous brick wall with crenelated and flaming towers, inlaid with sparkles of diamond and glass, sword-like flames. New for the artist are the twisting, turning bodies of which there are at least eight. The deep blue background of machinist ink coating the copper provides a momentous, mythological night sky. For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness. With striking imagery of demonic towers toppled in flames, horrific machines and cryptic symbols of oppression, Rocky's work soon became a recognized and sought-after stamp of organized resistance. Several of his prints are held in collections, particularly the “Carnival Against Capitalism” poster he produced for the 2001 Quebec City protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Rocky’s poster...

TRAILER PRISON by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with black ink. It measures 60x36” and slightly less than .25" thick. It features some of the artist’s repeating motifs – the number 13-1/2 appears here as 12 + 1 + 1/2 in the trailer windows. The number refers to 12 jurors, 1 judge, half a chance. Rocky says all his structures are prisons, and this trailer with tentacles is no exception. Trailer Prison is a signature example of the artist's work – the inscribed details are both compelling and powerful, while swirls and spikes evoke both prison architecture and monstrous intent. For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness. With striking imagery of demonic towers toppled in flames, horrific machines and cryptic symbols of oppression, Rocky's work soon became a recognized and sought-after stamp of organized resistance. Several of his prints are held in collections, particularly the “Carnival Against Capitalism” poster he produced for the 2001 Quebec City protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Rocky’s poster...

GOD MACHINE by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed, engraved copper sheet with black ink. It measures 26x18” and carries many of the familiar marks of the art...

Atticus Adams is a sculptor whose work embodies the transformative power of art to create beauty, meaning, and emotional impact from industrial materials. Using mostly aluminum mesh—...

Atticus Adams is a sculptor whose work embodies the transformative power of art to create beauty, meaning, and emotional impact from industrial materials. Using mostly aluminum mesh—...

Atticus Adams is a sculptor whose work embodies the transformative power of art to create beauty, meaning, and emotional impact from industrial materials. Using mostly aluminum mesh—...

Modernist Otto Rogers was often inspired by nature’s beauty. This abstract mixed media composition is the artist’s impression of a leaf reflected in a p...

Lyès-Olivier Sidhoum discovered graffiti at the age of 11 on the streets of Lyon, France. In 1989, graffiti was a new kind of art: sophisticated, almost surrealistic, and linked to h...

'Laughing rocket' 2008, Wood, painted, collected plastic refuse, 65 x 25 x 25 cm DEMBA Camara, born in 1970 in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire 2006/2007: Group exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain 2008: Group BHAI - friends of Art, Abidjan 2009 exhibition: solo exhibition at the galerie Le Lab, Abidjan 2009/2010: exhibition "Africa? -Una nuova storia"Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy since 2011: permanent exhibition at Gallery Amani, Abidjan 2012: Group exhibition at the galerie Le Lab, Abidjan group 'Africa Africa', Centre d'art contemporain, Meymac, France represented at Affordable Art Fair in Rome by Kyo black Representation on map a series of objects by Camara deep by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré...