Rosemarie Castoro formulated her unique artistic idiom within the context of Minimalist and Conceptual art in 1960s New York, sharing a SoHo loft with then-partner and fellow artist Carl Andre that became a social hub for creatives, including Lawrence Weiner, Richard Long and Sol LeWitt. While studying graphic design at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, she became involved with the New Dance Group and later appeared in several performances with famed Minimalist choreographer Yvonne Rainer. Defying easy categorisation, Castoro called herself a 'paintersculptor', and a dancer's awareness of space informed her works, emphasised in the performative Polaroids she took of herself interacting with them in her studio.
From 1964 onwards, Castoro created systematic works exploring colour and structural compositions in highly innovative experimentations, like her Y-Unit Interference and Inventory paintings and drawings. In 1968 – a time of political unrest in the USA – Castoro abandoned colour and started to engage with Conceptual art, street works, concrete poetry and Post-Minimalist sculpture. From the 1970s until the final years of her life, Castoro focused on sculptural experimentation, creating organic shapes that represented a parallel to the experimentation of Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois. Castoro had a tendency to blend media, investing her works with a bodily dimension that is rarely present in the mathematical principles underlying Minimalism. Neither wholly Minimalist nor a self-avowed feminist, her work transgressed boundaries and metamorphosed into an erotically charged language that communicates a sense of empowered female identity. The famed feminist critic and curator Lucy R. Lippard later identified her as a figure who 'subverted or overrode Minimalism on its own turf'.
Born in Brooklyn, Castoro lived and worked in New York until her death in 2015. Major posthumous career retrospectives have been held at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva (2019) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona (2017). Her work has also been featured in group exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2017); National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2016); Museu de Arte Moderna Rio de Janeiro (2014); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (2012); and MoMA PS1, Queens, New York (2003).
2024
Rosemarie Castoro: Between the Lines, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, USA
Rosemarie Castoro: Trap A Zoid, Mostyn, Llandudno, UK
2023
Carving Space, Mostyn, Llandudno, UK
Rosemarie Castoro: Paintings 1964-1966, Judd Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Rosemarie Castoro: Land of Lashes, MAK Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria
2022
Rosemarie Castoro: Working Out, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
2019
Rosemarie Castoro, MAMCO | Modern and Contemporary Art Museum, Geneva
Rosemarie Castoro: Wherein Lies The Space, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2017
Rosemarie Castoro: Focus on Infinity, MACBA | Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2016
Interference / Infinity, Broadway 1602 Harlem, New York, NY, USA
2015
SP Arte, Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, São Paulo, Brazil
Rosemarie Castoro: Loft Show, Broadway 1602, Rosemarie Castoro Studio, New York, NY, USA
2011
The Forest, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Snow Jobs, Galerie Ivana de Gavardie, Paris, France
2009
Straight Sided & Knee-High Flashers, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
2007
Armpit Hair Coming from the Corner of a Room and Party of Nine, 150 East 52 Street, New York, NY, USA
2006
The Dimension of Line, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2004
Mosquito Net Works, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Écrits/Writings, Arnaud Lefebvre Gallery, Paris, France
2003
Arches and Tunnels, 1974-5" Arnaud Lefebvre Gallery, Paris, France
2002
Archetypes, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2000
Black & White & Steel, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
1999
Gallery Floating, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
1998
Syncope, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
1997
Short Stories, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Underconsciousness, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
1995
1964-1994 (small) works, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
1993
Knee-High Flashers, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
1972-76 Drawings, Stella R Graphics, Paris, France
1991
Brush Stroke Series, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, USA
Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1989
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Rosemarie Castoro: A Retrospective of Selected Works, 127 Grand St, New York, NY, USA
1987
Saint Peter's Church, Citicorp Center, New York, NY, USA
New Sculpture, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1986
Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Eaton/Shoen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1985
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1984
Eaton/Shoen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Flashers on Third Avenue, New York, NY, USA
1983
Tibor De Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The American Center, Paris, France
Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Seven Flashers, Duane Park, NY, USA
1981
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Marion Deson, Chicago, IL, USA
Making the Transitory Permanent: A Decade of Black & White Sculpture, Hal Bromm, Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1980
Knee-high Flashers, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Selected Major Works, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1979
Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Dirty Old Men, Julian Pretto, New York, NY, USA
24 Flashers, Artpark, Lewiston, NY, USA
1978
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
P.S.1., Long Island City, NY, USA
Beaver's Trap, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Sculpture, 1970–78, and Drawings, 1964–78, Julian Pretto, New York, NY, USA
Galerie Farideh Cadot, Paris, France
1977
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
1975
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Painting 1967–68, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1973
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Suspensions, Lubin House Gallery, Syracuse University, NY, USA
1972
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1971
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2024
Belvedere at Hluboká: Let It Grow Again!, South Bohemian Gallery – The Chateau Riding Hall, Hluboká nad Vltavou, Czech Republic
Beyond Form: Lines of Abstraction, 1950 - 1970, Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, UK
2023
Action, Gesture, Performance: Feminism, the Body and Abstraction, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2021
Women in Abstraction, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Sign Language: Antunes | Bayrle | Brătescu | Castoro | Pichler, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
Female Minimal: Abstraction in the Expanded Field, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Dimensions of Reality: Female Minimal, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
2019
Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C, USA
La Source, Villa Carmignac, Ile de Porquerolles, France
2018
It Comes in Waves, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
Land of Lads, Land of Lashes, Rosemarie Castoro – Lydia Okumura – Wanda Czelkowska, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, London, UK
2016
From Los Angeles to New York: The Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, USA
121 Street, Broadway 1602 Harlem, New York, NY, USA
Around the Edge, Broadway 1602 Uptown, New York, NY, USA
Inaugural Exhibition, Broadway 1602 Uptown, New York, NY, USA
2014
ULTRAPASSADO Part I and II, Broadway 1602, New York, NY, USA
Artevida, Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2013
Enact, Online exhibition, The 25th year anniversary of the Cleveland Performance Art Festival "Present and Accounted": River of Street, as appearing on YouTube, First 10 Years of ArtPark, Lewiston, NY, Trio Flashers
2012
Shem, PO(M) and Poem 2, Galerie Ivana de Gavardie, Paris, France
Wish You Were Here, 1970's Avante Garde, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
2011
Turtle, Arnaud Lefebvre Gallery, Paris, France
Gallery Floating, Ivana de Gavardie Gallery, Paris, France
Architectures/Dessins/Utopies, CNAP France support, Muzeul National de Arta Contemporana, Bucharest, RomaniaIt's All Good!! Apocalypse Now, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Four Sculptors, Leslie Heller Workspace, NY, USA
Galerie Ivana de Gavardie, Paris, France
2010
It's a Wonderful 10th, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Galerie Ivana de Gavardie, Paris, France
Anti-Icon, Eaton Fine Arts, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
New Works/Small Scale, Art612 Gallery, Key West, FL, USA
Neo-Vitruvian, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
ArtPark 1974-1984, University of Buffalo, Art Gallery, Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY, USA
2009
It's a Wonderful Life, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Subversive Spaces: Surrealism & Contemporary Art, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK
Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, UK
Arnaud Lefebvre Gallery, Paris, France
The Paper Fool Gallery, Provincetown, MA, USA
2008
Peace, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Volume I and Summer Show, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Grids and EKG of the ALGallery, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
2007
War is Over, Again, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
It Takes a Lifetime, Paula Barr Chelsea, New York, NY, USA
A Day in the Life of a Gallerist, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Contemporary Selections and Summer Sculptures, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
2005
Gesture, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Configurations, MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
After Minimalism, Boca Raton Museum of Art, FL, USA
Black and White, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Summer Sculpture, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USAI
Inside Out, Byrdcliffe, Woodstock, NY, USA
2003
Art in the Park, Ft. Taylor, Key West, FL, USA
America Drill, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Metal and Paper, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL, France
Site/Insight, P.S.1, Museum of Modern Art, Long Island City, NY, USA
Poetry/Prose, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
2002
Art in the Park, Ft. Taylor, Key West, FL, USA
2001
Mosquito Net Works, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Ironic Column, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2000 Go Figure, Eaton Fine Art, Inc, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
1998
Director's Choice (Recent Gifts and Acquisitions), Boca Raton Museum of Art, FL, USA
1997
Les Moments de Lieu Propre Qui Rythment Le Silence, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Small & Beautiful, Eaton Fine Art, Inc, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
1996
Julian Pretto Collection, Wadsworth Athenaeum, CT, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Eric Satie..., Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Chelsea Walk, I.C.E. Gallery, NY, USA
1995
The Art of the Opera, Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, CA, USA
Une Constellation, May 6-June 24, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Phallic Symbols, May 16-July 7, 24 Hours for Life Gallery, NY, USA
Quelques artist americains dans les collections francaises, 1960-1970, Beaumanoir, Le Leslay, France
1994
1969 A Year Revisited, Grey Art Gallery, NY, USA
FIAC, October, Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Woodstock 94, Mural, NY, USA
1993
Rosemarie Castoro, Daniel Dezeuze, Simon Hantai, and 2x1000, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Two Kings, Boca Raton Museum, FL, USA
Double Muse, Henry Street Settlement, NY, USA
1992
La Boite A Malices, Stellar Graphics, Paris, France
Points of View: 10 New York Artists, Northcutt Gallery, Eastern Montana College, Billings, MT, USA
Visions of Angels, Nancy Driscoll Gallery, NY, USA
1990
Old Friends...New Friends, Marvin Seline Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Annual Exhibition, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, VA, USA
Season's Best, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Works from the Seventies, Hal Bromm Gallery, NY, USA
Sculptors Working, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1987
Castoro/Sharon, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Socrates Sculpture Space/Park, Long Island City, NY, USA
Realism and Abstraction, 2Oth Century Art, Newark Museum, NJ, USA
1986
TEN, Non-Objective, and Home Sweet Home, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USACiticorp, St. Peter's Sanctuary, New York, NY, USA
Socrates Sculpture Space/Park, Long Island City, NY, USA
Museum of Modern Art Lending Service, New York, NY, USA
1985
Figure it Out: Exploring the Figure in Contemporary Art, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX, USA
The Governors Art Show, 57th Fl. World Trade Center II, NY, USA
Not Just Black and White, City Gallery, New York, NY, USA
New Sculpture, Major Works and City Streets, Hal Bromm Gallery, NY, USA
Side by Side, New Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
American Women Artists, Stamford, CT, USA
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA
Contemporary Triptychs, Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA
The Destroyed Print, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
Highlights, Selections from Collection, Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA, USA
5 Galvanized Portraits, Itokin Plaza, Madison Ave. & 53rd Street, NY, USA
1984
On an Intimate Dimension, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Celebration of Italian Americans, Passaic County Community College Art Gallery, Patterson, NJ, USA
Art on Paper 1983, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA
Noho, Soho, Tribeca, The Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA, USA
Intoxication, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Pratt Invitational Alumni Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY, USA
1983
Connections: Bridges/ Ladders/ Ramps/ Staircases/ Tunnels, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
1982
Drawing/New Directions, Summit Art Center, NJ, USA
Selections from Eaton/Shoen's First Year, ES Gallery, SF, CA, USA
Eaton/Shoen Gallery at Frank Lloyd Wright's HC Price 'Grandmother' House", Scottsdale, AZ
On Ward's Island, Organization of Independent Artists, NY, USA
Collector's Choice, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Destroyed Print, Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, NY, USA
Sculpture on the Lawn and in the Gallery, Eaton/Shoen Gallery, SF, CA, USA
Anti-Apocalypse: Artists Respond to the Nuclear Peril, Ben Shahn Gallery, William Paterson College, Wayne, NJ, USA
American Abstraction Now, Institute of Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA, USA
1981
Inside Spaces, MOMA Art Lending Service, New York, NY, USA
Direction 1981, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
New Dimensions in Drawing, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, USA
New Show on Ward's Island, OIA, Ward's Island Sculpture Garden, NY, USA
Art on Paper 1981, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA
Drawings, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Selections from Hal Bromm, New York, Eaton/Shoen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Drawings, Watercolors and Prints, Leah Levy Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Winners All, Creative Arts Program winners, Pratt Institute Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
New Art II: Surfaces/Textures, MOMA Art Lending Service, NY, USA
US Art Now, Jan Eric Lowenadler, Stockholm, Sweden
Heresies Second Annual Benefit Show, Grey Art Gallery, NY, USA
The Summer Show, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Sculptor's Work on Paper, Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1980
Across the Nation: Fine Art for Federal Buildings 1972-79, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., USA
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN, USA
Painting and Sculpture Today, 1980, Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN, USA
Arte Americana Contemporanea, Udine, Italy
OIA, Ward's Island Sculpture Garden, NY USA
All in Line, Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University, NY, USA
Banco Gallery, Brescia, Italy
Hirschl & Adler Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Painting & Sculpture, Leah Levy Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Breaking In, Old Islip Station, Creative Time, NY, USA
Apokalypsis, Nardin Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1979
Art on Paper 1979, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA
A Great Big Drawing Show, P.S. 1, Long Island City, NY, USA
1978
Indoor - Outdoor, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY, USA
Armpit Hair, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Press Conference Auditorium, New York, NY, USA
Painting and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN, USA
Art on the Beach, Creative Time, Inc., Battery Park, New York, NY, USA
Sculpture Library: Part One, OIA, Ward's Island Sculpture Garden, NY, USA
The Presence of Nature, Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York, NY, USA
Adams and Castoro, Rush Rhees Gallery, University of Rochester, NY, USA
Review and Preview, Nancy Lurie Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Rotating Corners, II, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Arches and Bridges, Walt Whitman International Poetry Center, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, USA
Black and White on Paper, Nobe Gallery, NJ, USA
1977
Collection in Progress, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Invitational Sculpture Exhibition, Tyler Gallery of Art, SUNY, Oswego, NY, USA
Video and Performance, University of Colorado, UMC Center, Boulder, CO, USA
Art in Public Places, OIA, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY, USA
Drawings for Outdoor Sculpture, John Weber Gallery, NY
Forms in Focus, Co-op City, NY, USA
Moving, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
$100 Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Shelf of Grass, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY, USA
...Trap, Julian Pretto Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1976
Ladder, Grapestake Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Artists '76, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
Thinking Drawings, Womencenter, Boulder, CO, USA
Sculptor's Drawings, Fine Arts Building, New York, NY, USA
Five Artists, Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1975
New Drawings, Grapestake Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Arches are Bridges, Storm King Gallery, Mountainville, NY, USA
1974
Art Acquisitions1973, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
Storm King Art Gallery, Mountainville, NY, USA
1972
New York, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Paintings and Sculpture, Storm King Art Gallery, Mountainville, NY, USA
Outsized Drawings and Multiples, Loeb Student Center, New York University, NY, USA
Armpit Hair, 112 Greene Street Gallery, NY, USA
1971
Drawings, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Erasable Structures, School of Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Projected Art: Artists at Work, Finch College, NY, USA
The Drawn Line, Parker 470 Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
Three Persons, 112 Greene Street Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Auction for Max's, Lo Guidice Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Highlights of the 1970-71 Art Season, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Drawings, Weatherspoon Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA
Changing Terms, curated by Elizabeth Clark, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
1970
995,000, Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada
Between 4, Stadtische Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Germany
Drawing Show, Bard College, Proctor Art Center, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA
Art in the Mind, Allen Art Museum, Oberlin, OH, USA
Young Artists for Young Collectors, Reese Palley, New York, NY, USA
High Class Drawings, Hundred Acres Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1969
Number 7, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Streetworks,13th & 14th Streets, New York, NY, USA
Language III, Dwan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
555,087, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
Drawing Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1968
Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Language III, Dwan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1967
Invitational, Park Place Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1966
Invitational, Park Place Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Distillation, Tibor de Nagy & Stable Galleries, New York, NY, USA
E.A.T. Benefit, Castelli Gallery, New York, NY
1963
Prints, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
Austria
MAK Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
France
Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Spain
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona
Switzerland
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva
USA
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA
Boca Raton Museum, Miami, FL
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
2019
Asia Society Hong Kong, Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
2017
US Department of State International Medal of Arts
1998
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
1989
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
1985
National Endowment for the Arts
1977
Tiffany Foundation Grant
1975
National Endowment for the Arts
1971
Guggenheim Fellowship
1969
Art in Embassies