“As a chronicler and interpreter of historical cultural relevance, D’Amato’s precise lettering, complex paint process, and application on cars, signs, and canvas, capture not a ‘lost art’ but one that needs to be pulled into the present for reexamination through a contemporary lens.” – juror Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, SFMOMA.“Rose D’Amato seamlessly blends studio and garage, making little distinction between her pinstriping and painting practice. The care she brings to archiving the visual landscape of San Francisco through its history of hand-lettered signs, while working in community with others, is evident in every project she takes on.” – juror Victoria Sung, Phyllis C. Wattis Senior Curator, BAMPFA.
Rose D’Amato (b. 1991, Los Angeles, CA) is a pinstriper and painter living and working in San Francisco, CA. She is motivated by her intention to learn and implement techniques of handmade modes of production and by doing so explore her artistic lineage. D’Amato has been the Adjunct Professor of Hand lettering at California College of the Arts since 2019. The Headlands Center for the Arts Tournesol Awardee for 2023–2024. SFMOMA SECA Awardee for 2024-2025, and she is currently working towards upcoming projects at House of Seiko.
Her work is in the permanent collections of institutions including the UC Santa Barbara Art, Design & Architecture Museum, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and SFMOMA.
Rose D’Amato is using painting as a place to create a personal archive of both the hand-painted signs in the built environment and the lettering she’s called on to paint for those around her. She uses techniques inherited and gained through years of commitment to carrying on her family’s trade as a second generation sign painter. D’Amato works with airbrush, gold leaf, and hand lettering to create her own representations of their practices in motion. As an artist she hopes to hold and honor the visual histories of California Subcultures in her work.
