BARBARA IN THE PUBLIC RECORD
The connecting force was not a medium. It was a mind.
Barbara Romain spent more than five decades making work in Los Angeles—painting, performing, teaching, collaborating, building public projects, and sending paintings into the world. The record of that life survives in newspapers, exhibition catalogues, television segments, museum archives, artist statements, photographs, invitations, old webpages, and boxes she left behind.
HAPPENING FEBRUARY 2027
LOS ANGELES · MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2027, 11:00AM to 5:00PM
The doors open.
For the first time, Barbara’s family will open her longtime Los Angeles home and studio to the public. The weekend follows more than two years of cataloguing hundreds of paintings and ceramics, rebuilding exhibition histories, and recovering material that had not been seen or read in decades.
This is a rare opportunity to encounter the work in the place where Barbara lived and worked.
430+
documented paintings
100+
ceramics
60
works coming into view
2027
first public opening of the home & studio
CRITICAL VOICES
What critics and curators wrote.
Barbara was reviewed, interviewed, broadcast and awarded across five decades. The record existed; it had never been gathered in one place. These are the critics and curators who engaged the work directly.
“Barbara Romain is significant. Her canvases belong in the company of contemporary greats… Romain’s work stays with you. Its brilliance is in making the viewer feel the immediacy of being right there in the moment with the painting. It is this very offerance of vitality that makes one want to see more. Much more.”
Rachael Steele, “Barbara Romain — Depth Perception,” Newsletter on the Arts, Fall 2003 · published by Diana Zlotnick
“The cacophony of words in these life-size images—‘History’ done in blue, ‘Herstory’ in pink, he somewhat bigger than she—creates a frenzied aura that communicates the larger picture here.”
Nancy Kapitanoff, “Mixing Media: ‘Words and Symbols,’” Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1994
“Refusing to be daunted by an eye disease that has eviscerated her eyesight, she has continued to produce a vigorous and intriguing body of work in the past two decades.”
Bill Mohr, “The Resilient Visions of Barbara Romain,” Koan Kinship, January 26, 2014
PRESS ON BARBARA
Where Barbara is featured.
Profiles, interviews, reviews and broadcasts in which Barbara, or a specific body of her work, is the subject. Press generated by exhibitions she took part in is filed under Press by Exhibition.
2003
Rachael Steele · Barbara Romain - Depth Perception · Newsletter on the Arts by Diana Zlotnick
2007
Scott Kassel · The Power of Positive Painting
PRESS BY EXHIBITION
The life of an exhibition.
Some of Barbara’s public history belongs to the life of an exhibition rather than to a single review: a show opened, traveled, generated a catalogue, a radio story, a local review, another stop. Each exhibition has its own press dossier.
2008–2026
2018
2003–2008
2003–2022
2013
2005
WATCH + LISTEN
Barbara on film, television, and radio.
Documentary, television and radio interviews in which Barbara speaks for herself. Public sources are linked; recordings held by the Estate are identified.
Can You See Me?
Documentary by Linda Janakos · premiered 2014
ABC7 Chicago
Passionate Focus coverage · 2012.
In The Space, Episode 5
Pasadena Media · 2021 · Episode 5 · interview with Barbara.
DOWNLOADS + IMAGES
Press kit, images, and documents.
The Press Kit, current release, CV, exhibition history, fact sheet and cleared image library. Every file carries its caption, credit and reproduction terms.
PRESS FACT SHEET
A concise verified reference for dates, institutions, awards and recurring facts.
PRESS IMAGE LIBRARY
Cleared artwork, portrait, studio and archival images with captions, credits and editorial-use terms.
VIEW IMAGES
RESEARCH ACCESS
We are still opening boxes.
Some of the most important material around Barbara’s work is not press at all: letters, grant narratives, interview transcripts, recordings, old computer files, exhibition correspondence, unpublished photographs and provenance clues that connect a painting to a place or a year.
High-resolution publication files and unpublished archival material are provided directly by the Estate so that captions, credits, rights, and reproduction terms remain accurate. Press · Exhibitions · Research · Reproduction: Art@BarbaraRomain.com