DeRosa is an acclaimed, multidisciplinary artist with an eclectic background. Thanks in large part to the encouragement of numerous mentors, the then child prodigy debuted their Dali-esque pen and ink studies in a city sponsored juried exhibition in 1986. 

DeROSAart twelve years old.

Since then, the artist has progressed through many incarnations; draftsman, printmaker, photographer, designer, curator – before finally achieving a BFA from the Academy of Art University in 1997.

During the following six years, while surviving as an artist-for-hire, DeRosa grew into their own, becoming an active, long-standing fixture of the west coast underground and salon gallery scenes.

In 2004, after a brief-yet-violent sabbatical as a spoken word performer, DeROSAart reemerged with a new body of work called simply: 'POP Impressionism.'

They are after images of life as I perceive it – people I meet or admire, the banal yet poignant landscapes I encounter, personal iconography and social-political commentary all stripped down to their simplest, most graphic forms.

Drawing heavily from Impressionistic ideology, poster art and advertising media, the artist's candid renderings and reductionist style captured the "ethos of his subjects" by zeroing in on the specific and subtle gestures dictated by the moment. They then presented those gestures as "emblems of that subject’s connection to the world," creating icons that might have otherwise been overlooked or taken for granted.

The subsequent half decade proved to be a prolific time for the artist, having created, exhibited and sold hundreds of original paintings across the United States. In 2008, they relocated to Chicago and added public art to their repertoire, designing and assisting with several city sponsored murals.

In 2010, DeRosa took a well-deserved break and backpacked through much of Europe and the U.K., studying the light, painting, exhibiting and exploring potential new themes and directions to take their work. Upon returning to the states, the artist went on a partial hiatus in pursuit of their MFA, which they received from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2014. Their experiences there challenged the notions of what “painting” can be and has since entered a new phase of work that also encompasses dimensionality, communication and community.