ABOUT THE ARTIST

Monique Rollins (b. 1980, American) is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist whose work is inspired by the rich colors of the Venetian Renaissance and the diverse land and cityscapes of her adoptive Italy. As the founder of John William Gallery and its Emerging Curator Platform, she has developed a ground-breaking partnership with the Delaware Art Museum and the Museum Studies Program at the University of Delaware. This initiative supports students from underrepresented communities in the museum field, highlights the role of curators, and showcases the work of artists from historically marginalized groups in exhibition and collection programs.

Rollins’ creative projects and exhibitions explore the history of femininity through innovative materials, infusing her work with a renewed spiritual curiosity. While her compositions often
feature elegant spatial dissections, Rollins applies fabrics and other fibrous materials with the same vigor as paint, reflecting the underlying churning of emotions of daily life and caregiving. Her portfolio includes oil, acrylic, and paper collage paintings on canvas, charcoal drawings, and mixed media. Each piece serves as an uncompromising visual record of her journeys, experiences, and reflections; a creative vision that taps deeply into her primordial self. A master colorist and gesturalist, her drawings and paintings intersect aesthetically, boldly, creating painterly works that offer a profound exploration of the human condition.

Rollins received her BFA from Syracuse University in New York in 2002. In 2006, she earned an MFA in painting, a Master of Science in Theory, Criticism and History of Art degree specializing in Venetian Renaissance, and a Museum Studies Certification from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Rollins’ work has been exhibited at Kyro Art Gallery in Pietra Santa, Italy; Metroquadro Miami Gallery; Delaware College of Art and Design; Gallery Onue in Seoul Korea; Gallery 83 in Kyiv, Ukraine; Barbara Davis Gallery in Houston, TX; the Dante Alighieri Society in Venice, Italy; the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Paris, France; Metroquadro Gallery in Turin, Italy; the Zhu Naizheng Research Center for Art in Beijing; the Beijing American Center in Beijing, China; The Delaware Contemporary Museum in Wilmington, Delaware; the Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine; Andre Zarre Gallery in New York City; Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Wyoming; Nepenthe Gallery, Alexandria, VA; Art Market Hamptons 2022, Art Miami Context 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013 editions; the American Embassy in Rome’s Tri Mission Art Gallery; Art Central Hong Kong; The Sunshine Art Museum, Beijing; Denise Bibro Gallery in New York City; the County Offices of the City of Wilmington and many public sites throughout the city of Wilmington, Delaware, her home town; the Official Residence of the Ambassador to the European Union in Kingston, Jamaica, as well as in many prominent private collections in North America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean.