Ron Rocco

Background

Rocco, Ron was born in 1953.

Education

Ron Rocco began his university education as a student at Fordham University in 1972. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at Purchase in 1976. He continued his interdisciplinary studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Visual Studies, receiving a Master of Science in Visual Studies in 1983. His education combined formal visual-art training with experimental approaches to technology, electronic media, and contemporary artistic practice.

Career

Ron Rocco has pursued a multidisciplinary career as an artist, educator, curator, and participant in experimental media and public-art projects. His practice encompasses sculpture, installation, printmaking, photography, performance, video, experimental television, electronic and digital media, and interdisciplinary projects involving art, science, technology, architecture, and the environment.

From 1977 to 1980, Rocco was founder and director of the Ithaca Artists Cooperative in Ithaca, New York. During this period he also developed his career as an exhibiting artist and educator and received support from Cornell University's Creative and Performing Arts Council. From 1977 to 1990, he served as a guest lecturer at various universities, combining teaching with an active studio practice.

In 1982, Rocco became an artist-in-residence at the Experimental Television Center in Owego, New York, where he worked with experimental television, video, electronic image processing, and new media. His association with the Center continued for many years. His work from this period contributed to the development of an artistic practice that brought together traditional visual-art disciplines and emerging electronic technologies.

In 1983, Rocco participated in the United Nations International Conference on Communication Technology and Traditional Cultures in New York City. During the same year, he completed his Master of Science in Visual Studies at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies. His experimental media work subsequently included projects combining video, computer technology, performance, and image processing.

Rocco was a guest lecturer and artist-in-residence at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, in 1987. In 1991, he was an artist-in-residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, and in 1993 he participated in the international studio program at Kunst and Complex in Rotterdam, Netherlands. These international residencies became an important part of his professional development and extended his work into European contemporary-art networks.

His exhibition and installation career has included presentations at major American cultural institutions, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, P.S.1, and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum. In 1983, he presented Zaroff's Tale at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. He later participated in Buddha Meets Einstein at the Great Wall, a multidisciplinary project combining dance with prerecorded and real-time computer and video image processing.

Rocco's work has also included large-scale installation and environmental projects. His Waterline Project in Amsterdam explored the relationship between land, water, and the constructed environment. His work has addressed subjects including urban space, housing, technology, nature, perception, and the interaction between natural and built environments.

In 1990, Rocco founded and directed Bernadette Salvage Fine Art Gallery, operating in Brooklyn and Berlin. He continued directing the gallery until 2009 while maintaining his own artistic practice and participating in exhibitions and international projects. His professional activities in Berlin included the Berlin Project, and his work subsequently entered the collection of the Berlinische Galerie.

Rocco has also undertaken public commissions. His projects have included work for the New Jersey Light Rail Project at West Avenue Station in 1997, as well as public-art projects associated with transportation and civic environments in New York and New Jersey. His work has also been selected for public-art programs including the Washington State Art Commission's Art in Public Schools Program.

From 1996 to 2001, Rocco served on the board of directors of Art & Science Collaborations, Inc., participating in an organization devoted to bringing artists and scientists together through interdisciplinary projects. His career has consistently involved collaborations across artistic, scientific, technological, and cultural fields.

Rocco has continued to work internationally in later decades. His subsequent projects and exhibitions have included sculpture, drawings, prints, video, installations, architectural collaborations, and environmental projects. His later activities include the outdoor sculpture installation The Spring of Hope Garden, participation in Visions of a City, and the exhibition The Elegant Universe. His work has continued to be presented in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Achievements

• Rocco's career has been supported by numerous grants, awards, and professional distinctions. In 1976, he received a Sculpture Award from the Ithaca Art Association. In 1977, he received a Creative and Performing Arts Council grant from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. From 1977 to 1979, he was a recipient of an Expansion Arts Program grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
  
  In 1989, Rocco received awards from the Netherland-American Foundation, Art Matters, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. He was nominated for a Joan Mitchell Foundation award in 2002 and received a Printmaking Award from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2003.
  
  His career has also been distinguished by museum exhibitions, international residencies, public commissions, and inclusion in institutional and public collections. His work has been acquired by the Berlinische Galerie and has participated in public-art programs in the United States.

Works

• Other Work

  • Among Rocco's selected works and projects are Zaroff's Tale, presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Buddha Meets Einstein at the Great Wall; The Waterline Project in Amsterdam; The Berlin Project; The Horizon Is Nothing More Than the Limit of Our Sight; and numerous sculpture, installation, video, printmaking, and public-art projects.
    
    His experimental media work includes projects developed through the Experimental Television Center and other electronic-media programs, while his later practice has expanded into environmental sculpture, architectural collaboration, public art, and interdisciplinary installations.

    (Among Rocco's selected works and projects are Zaroff's Ta...)

Membership

Rocco has been associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, Film/Video Arts, and the American Association of Museums. He has also served on the board of directors of Art & Science Collaborations, Inc., reflecting his longstanding involvement in interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, scientists, and technologists.

References

• In Real Life: My Life and Work in 3D Design the Visual and Performing Arts (A Discourse on my Muse Book 1) In Real Life, documents the artist's reality of living and working as a creator in the Visual and Performance Arts. Many of the events, which took place in New York City in the 1980's and 90's are detailed with accounts of this period in the city's violent past.