About
Roma Evelyn Slack Devanbu
Born in Montclair, NJ
Lives in Davis, CA
I think art making is a fundamental human activity. It is the act of imbuing neutral materials with meaning. What are humans if not meaning makers?
I compulsively make art about the compulsion to make art, especially art that struggles with our struggles with belief and the power of human habits. I am attached to this attachment.
I often use symmetry and pattern in my work, two reliable tools for the obsessive and spiritually inclined.
Because I have seen a lot of the world I recognize the sincere and heartfelt gesture as a things of great beauty and value, even when clumsy.
CV
Education
1985 Pratt Institute, MFA,
1979 Carnegie Mellon University BFA (Honors)
1981 Maharaja University of Baroda, Vadodara, India (one year graduate Art History)
Selected Solo Shows (since 2005)
2021 - "Stone Doily" East Gallery at Axis, Sac., CA
2021 - "Paper Medium" Axis Gallery, Sac., CA
2019 - "Keep, Toss, Give Away, Sell" Axis Gallery, Sac., CA
2017 - "A Pilgrim Continues Her Way" Axis Gallery, Sac., CA
2015 - "Loving the Noumenon" Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2013 - "Roma Devanbu/ 37 Recent Works" Space 07, Sacramento, CA
2012 - "Paper Temple" Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2007 - "Interiors", Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2005 - "Heroic Hands" John Natsoulas/Cafe California, Davis, CA
Other Selected Shows
2019 - "Casagrande - Devanbu, Two Person Show, East Gallery at Axis, Sacramento, CA
2018 - "Axis Exchange" GearBox Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018 - "Pink Week Micro Invitational" Sparrow Gallery, Sac, CA
2018 - "#Timesup" Jay Jay Gallery , Sacramento CA
2018 - "Paper Work" SMUD Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2018 - “Two Person Show” East Gallery at Axis, Sacramento, CA
2016 - "Bloom2 " Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2016 - "Consillience of Art and Science" Jurors Award, Pence Gallery in conjunction with UC Davis’ Art/Science Fusion Program, Davis, CA
2015 - “Group Show” East Gallery at Axis. Sacramento, CA
2015 - “First Look” Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2014 - “Utility Box Project” CADA, Sacramento, CA
2013 - “Pink Week” Center For Contemporary Art, Sac, CA
2013 - "Drawing the Line" SMUD Gallery Sacramento, CA
2013 - “Art Mix/Verge Takeover” Crocker Museum, Sac, CA
2013 - "Translations" Verge Galleries, Sydney, Australia and Sacramento, USA
2013 - “Altars” Ridley Gallery, Sierra College, Rocklin, CA
2012 - “79 Miles, Verge Goes West” Classic Cars West Gallery, Oakland CA
2012 - “Slice, A Juried Cross-Section of Regional Art” Pence Gallery, Davis CA
2012 - “San Francisco Art Market” Exhibiting with Verge Center for the Arts SF, CA
2012 - “Art Institute Faculty Exhibition” AI Gallery, Sac, CA
2012 - “Maps and Mapping”, Tangent Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2011 - “ New Verge Inaugural Show”, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA
2011 - “Art Inspires”, Pence Gallery, Davis CA
2011 - “Flora” Tangent Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2011 - "Symbols of Affection" Three-person show, Delta of Venus, Davis, CA
2011 - “Verge at Axis” Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2010 - "Women Paint Women”, Pence Gallery, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2007 - "Faith and Superstition", Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA
2006 - "Miniatures and Masterpieces", Art Foundry, Sac, CA
2006 - “Small Works”, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2005 - “Workers of the World”, Shenere Velt Gallery, LA, CA
2005 - “Ancestors” Sun Gallery, Hayward, CA
2004 - “Miniatures and Masterpieces” Art Foundry, Sac, CA
2004 - Four Group Shows (March, May, October and December) John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis CA
2004 - “Women” Union Gallery, CSU, Sacramento, CA
2004 - “Clock Watchers”, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2003 - "Global Art Look”, Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1992 - “The New Jersey Project Invitational: A Celebration on Women Artists at New Jersey Colleges” Robeson Center Gallery, Newark, New Jersey, This show traveled to colleges throughout New Jersey over a two year period.
1991 - “Group Show” New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit, NJ
1989 - “Roma Devanbu” ATT Gallery, Somerset, NJ
1989 - “Group Show” City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
1988 - “Home Sweet Home” Tweed Arts Group, Plainfield, NJ
1987 - “Spring Show” PHOTOCOLLECT Gallery, New York, NY
1987 - “Women Artists Invitational” 44 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY
1985 - “Pratt Gallery Invitational”, Samuel Schulman Inst. LI, NY
1982 - “Roma Devanbu” Exhibition Gallery, Baroda, Gujarat, India
1979 - “Roma Devanbu”, Ellis Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
1977 - “Print Show”, Forbes Street Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Collections and Corporate Commissions
WEDDING CAKE HOUSE, Providence. RI
PENCE GALLERY, Davis CA
KAISER PERMANENTE, ROSEVILLE, CA
UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER, Sacramento, CA
KAISER PERMANENTE, San Jose, CA
KAISER PERMANENTE, Watsonville, CA
UNIVERSITY RETIREMENT COMMUNITY, Davis CA
BETTY IRENE MOORE SCHOOL OF NURSING, UC Davis, Sacramento, CA
JON STEVENSON, Sacramento, CA
Grant Funded Work
ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION, RHODE ISLAND STATE COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS (Skeletons in Her Closet, Devanbu and Devanbu) Collection of The Wedding Cake House, Providence Rhode Island
CITY OF DAVIS ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS (Pence Gallery Stair Wall Project)
BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE GRANT (Critical Thinking and Problem Solving in Visual Arts Studio Courses- Devanbu and Mindell)
Affiliations
VERGE CENTER FOR THE RTS, Sacramento, CA, Studio Resident since 2011
AXIS GALLERY, Sacramento, CA - Artist Member since 2014
Travel
Austria, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Yugoslavia.