Rosa Tato

Rosa Tato completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts [Sculpture] with Honours at RMIT University. Her sculptural works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Tato has received several important public and private commissions in Victoria. In 2005 she was awarded a George Alexander Foundation Scholarship, Melbourne and in 2007 she received a Cheung Kong Endeavour Art Award Scholarship, Shanghai, China. Rosa Tato's work is represented in public and private collections in Australia, China, Spain, The Netherlands and the United States.

Rosa Tato's work has an indefinable beauty that embraces the potential of florescence of light and form. Her sculptures begin with an intuitive hand cutting process in paper. She then transfers these designs to large mild steel sheets, where the pattern and design is implemented using the laser-cutting technique. The finished form is rolled, powder coated and displayed with powerful light, projecting shadows and silhouettes.

There is an element of gradual discovery in Tato's work. The shadow is as much a part of the work as the work itself. The sculptures appear as line drawings - shapes and forms contort depending on the lights angle. Shadow drawings emerge from the positive space surrounding the forms. These configurations are ghostlike patterns that appear enlarged and entangled with a delicate, misty and intricate sense of balance.

Tato's work is richly embedded in tradition. She draws inspiration from the history of the modern world and the culture that surrounds her. The constructed patterns and motifs are reminiscent of people, places and moments once known and loved. Her practice is a way of identifying and connecting with important memories and past events. Authenticity and authorship in the making of a unique object is also a very integral part of the work.