Rosa 2018

Curator: Standing before us is "Rosa," an acrylic painting created in 2018 by Camilla d'Errico, a work that really blends pop surrealism with fantasy art. What leaps out at you when you first see this? Editor: Such striking, otherworldly beauty! And that melancholic aura… the pale face, those impossibly large eyes each a different color. There's a vulnerability that really draws you in. Curator: Absolutely. The contrasting colors in her eyes feel quite symbolic. Is it discord or some form of heightened perception maybe? The crown of roses with their dripping…paint?…is almost gothic, creating this duality of innocence and decay. Editor: I'm thinking it touches upon the romanticization, but also the objectification, of women. That drip... it suggests this leaking, this kind of oozing pain or perhaps suppressed emotions that these "perfect" women are conditioned to hide beneath beauty. Roses have, like, so many loaded meanings attached to them. Curator: Right, the classic symbol of love and beauty but they also hold thorny potential. The wings sprouting from the head seem slightly constrained. Like an unfulfilled potential or perhaps... a bird caged in gilded glory. Editor: And those wings—they’re feathers yet look molded, like sculptures. There is an intentional stiffness, as though Rosa is both ethereal and trapped, like a pre-Raphaelite goddess unable to fully live outside of her frame. She's ornamental yet…inert. Curator: d'Errico really captures that sense of manufactured beauty within the portrait tradition, though through a distinctly contemporary, slightly haunting lens. You get lost wondering: Who *is* she beyond this constructed image? What is she thinking about? Editor: It invites a questioning of feminine ideals and constructed realities, perhaps. In a sense, Rosa reflects the paradox of contemporary beauty—a shimmering façade that belies complexity and, often, an underlying sense of struggle. Thanks for the conversation. It really opens a can of ideas for me about beauty and expectations. Curator: Me too. This glimpse into Rosa’s layered story proves appearances can indeed be deceptive. So many stories locked in a still surface.