Local Color: The Di Rosa Collection of Contemporary California Art

Rene di Rosa began collecting art in the '60s and displaying it at his gorgeous vineyard estate in the California Napa Valley. In 1997, his home, renamed the di Rosa Preserve, opened to the public, showcasing more than 1,500 works by hundreds of California artists. Vibrant, colorful, humorous, and eclectic, the di Rosa collection reflects the unique aesthetic of California modern art, including many works by Roy De Forest, Robert Arneson, William T. Wiley, Robert Hudson, and others. Local Color presents a selection of the best of the di Rosa collection, featuring the work of 76 California artists. Here are compelling, amusing, and enlightening works by Squeak Carnwath, Imogen Cunningham, Alan Rath, Ruth Bernhard, Bruce Conner, Peter Saul, James Barsness, David Best, Joan Brown, Manuel Neri, and scores of others, each accompanied by a brief essay about the artist. Critic Tessa deCarlo and artist Maria Porges contribute essays, and Rene di Rosa and Richard Reisman, curator, add a provocative foreword. As unbridled and brilliantly colorful as the peacocks who roam the di Rosa Preserve, Local Color offers art lovers everywhere an opportunity to explore a vision of art fueled by pure dedication to exuberant creative expression.

Rene di Rosa is renowned for his maverick spirit and passion for art. He chose not to label the works at the di Rosa Preserve in order to encourage visitors to look at the art itself, not labels and explanations. Much of his collection was acquired during the many years he spent with his late wife, artist Veronica di Rosa.