Rokoko "Freedom" Mixed-Media Relief Painting on Panel, 2012 — Signed

Rokoko is the collaborative identity of A.me (Amy Linn Alter) and Mitch (Mitchell Allen Gantz) Alamag, both graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design. They established the Rokoko partnership in 1983, taking their name from two sources: kokoro, the Japanese word encompassing spirit, emotion, and heart, and Rococo, the ornate 18th-century European decorative movement. The surname Alamag is itself a portmanteau of their combined initials. Within the collaboration, A.me develops the imagery — drawing, writing, and painting the compositions on a black ground — while Mitch constructs and prepares the relief framework through carving, routing, and texturing the wood supports. They operated galleries in Venice Beach, California and Mesilla, New Mexico, exhibited widely at art and music festivals nationally, and completed public art commissions through the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

DESCRIPTION "Freedom" is a square mixed-media relief painting on wood panel, signed and dated 2012 lower right, produced by Rokoko at their Las Cruces, New Mexico studio. The work exemplifies the partnership's mature process: Mitch's routed and built-up wood relief forms the physical architecture of the composition, while A.me's acrylic painting on a black ground animates it with dense swirling forms in gold, red, yellow, blue, and green. Embedded glass cabochons serve as pupils within two sculpted eye forms. Gold-outlined passages unify the surface, and inscribed text woven through the composition reads "freedom," "in your eyes i see change," and "Express" — characteristic of A.me's practice of embedding language directly into the imagery. The coral-orange painted cradle sides are integral to the work rather than incidental. The reverse carries the studio's "kozmic soul kaboom" label and a fitted hanging wire.

CONDITION Very good overall; colors are saturated and the relief surface is intact with no losses to the painted imagery. The coral-orange cradle sides show scattered chips and flaking consistent with handling. Minor paint loss visible along the lower edge of the reverse frame.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 12" H × 12" W × 2½" D
• Medium: Acrylic and mixed media with carved wood relief and embedded glass cabochons on wood panel
• Signed and dated: "© Rokoko 2012" lower right
• Artist label (reverse): Rokoko / "the kozmic soul kaboom" / 4901 Chippewa Trail, Las Cruces, NM 88011-9311 / Mitch & A.me Alamag
• Hanging hardware: Wire strung between two screw eyes