BARBARA ROMAIN

“My colors grow more vivid as my sight diminishes.”
—Barbara Romain

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Kosmik Beatnik is a vibrant explosion of sound, color, and cosmic consciousness—a series that captures Barbara Romain’s synesthetic approach to painting as her physical vision dimmed but her inner world expanded. Inspired by jazz, poetry, and the raw vitality of improvisation, this body of work pulses with the soul of underground clubs, celestial myth, and late-night jam sessions of the spirit.

Created in the later stages of her visual transformation, these paintings aren’t composed—they're played. Much like a free jazz solo, they emerge in bursts: stenciled symbols, rhythmic color fields, and poetic phrases, each responding to a deeper beat.

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That beat often came from her brother, Elliott Levin, the legendary Philadelphia-born free jazz saxophonist, flutist, and poet whose frenzied, unfiltered performances earned him a reputation as a creative force of nature. A student of Cecil Taylor and collaborator with jazz and poetry luminaries alike, Elliott infused his work with raw urgency and fearless emotion—the same traits that shaped Barbara’s visual style.

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Barbara’s paintings in this series often emerged while listening to Elliott’s compositions, absorbing their spirit into her process. In Kosmik Beatnik, you can feel that energy: the controlled chaos of Elliott’s tenor sax or flute, the wild lyricism of his poetry, and Barbara’s signature interplay of gesture and language.

 

“I don’t just listen to music while I work—I let it guide my hand.”

 

The paintings bear stenciled symbols, invented alphabets, cosmic iconography, and riotous hues—transmissions from a world just beyond the visible spectrum. As her physical sight diminished, Barbara leaned harder into intuition, sound, and imagination, allowing the “music of language” and “language of music” to become her truest guide.

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Kosmik Beatnik is Barbara’s visual jazz: spontaneous, layered, rebellious. It's a collaboration with memory, a tribute to her brother’s sonic chaos, and a cosmic map painted from feeling rather than sight. Bold, electric, and unbound by rules, these works challenge the very definition of what it means to “see”—and invite the viewer to feel instead.

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“You just have to use what you have—or even what you don’t have—and make something alive with it.”

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