ART(ist): artist as art presents a new body of work by renowned photographer David Rose that transforms the traditional artist portrait into something collaborative, playful, and unexpected.
Rose has spent a lifetime photographing extraordinary people. After beginning his career as Annie Leibovitz’s first assistant, he went on to photograph presidents, world leaders, musicians, actors, and cultural icons for publications including Vanity Fair and Newsweek. Now based in Bisbee, Rose turns his camera toward the artists themselves.
For ART(ist), Rose invited an exceptional group of contemporary artists to become both subject and material. The resulting works are not conventional portraits, but what Rose calls “photo-sculptures”—images created through photography, projection, manipulation, experimentation, and collaboration. The artists’ faces and bodies merge with elements of their own work and visual identities, blurring the line between artist and artwork.
The exhibition features artists closely connected to Artemizia Foundation, including Swoon (Callie Curry), Shepard Fairey, Cey Adams, SEN2, RISK, WRDSMTH, Corie Mattie, Isaac Pelayo, Nychos, Stikki Peaches, and Danielle Scott who have helped shape contemporary art and visual culture.
At its heart, ART(ist): artist as art asks us to look beyond the finished artwork and consider the human being who created it. Rose’s portraits are intimate, irreverent, theatrical, and deeply personal—collaborations between artists on opposite sides of the camera.
ART(ist): artist as art
David Rose
Gallery 818 at Artemizia Foundation
August 22–October 11, 2026
August 22, 2026 - October 11, 2026
Gallery 818 at Artemizia Foundation, Bisbee
