Profile

A native New Yorker, Terry Rosen began painting and drawing formally at the 92nd Street Y when she was six. She received a B.A. in art history from Cornell University where she studied fine art and architectural design. With a knack for making the inanimate look alive—and the reverse—she started out as an advertising illustrator for Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Rosen originated a whole trend—creating the well-known conversational prints of ticket stubs, fortune cookies and personal ads—for Nicole Miller, and also designed prints for Oleg Cassini. Rosen’s corporate clients include Absolut, Charles Schwab, Chesebrough Ponds, Gourmet and People.

Recently, Rosen has been developing collages. Her quilt-like images are culled from city streets—evidence of commerce and the time and place they were collected: ticket stubs, sales receipts, matchbooks, and gum wrappers are the artifacts she combines in journalistic fashion.

Rosen’s paintings have been exhibited in Boston and New York. She received an M.A. from New York Institute of Technology where she studied computer graphics. Rosen’s digital art has been in publications, and shown in galleries and museums in the US and Europe.

Influences

The Quilts of Gees Bend

After seeing this show at the Whitney Museum in 2003, these quilts riveted me, as they were abstract collages of memorabilia, made from factory scraps and the inanimate remains of deceased loved ones—their clothes.

Josef Frank

On trips to Stockholm I was taken to Svenskt Tenn,, where I was introduced to Frank’s textile prints that reflect an observation of the lyrical in nature, and a fascination with maps. An architect and designer, Frank also created furniture and objects for the home.

Saul Steinberg

His use of line, wit, ephemera, still life, and text-cum-images, have always delighted me, especially since his perspective is mostly that of a city-dweller.

M.C. Escher

One of my earliest fascinations and inspirations, especially his symmetry prints many derived from nature.

Kurt Schwitters

His Merz collages of found paper objects inspired the collage that would become a textile print, “Ticket Stubs.” and legitimized my collecting ephemera from the streets, advertising and media.