Joe Rocco

Ever since they took his crayons away in kindergarten Joe has been trying to make art. He seriously began his artistic endeavors in Northern Virginia in 1998. Impatient with waiting for the artist within to blossom, he took pen and paper in hand and began sketching musicians while they performed and while he waited his turn to play his guitar. Later, after having returned from a visit to Italy, he began to paint. Many have called his work folk art, and others consider his pen and ink pieces reminiscent of the New Yorker Magazine’s cartoons.

Since moving to St. Augustine, Joe has had three successful one-man shows and looks forward to more and more artistic days ahead. His work is rooted in the desire to express the Inner Self and reflects a flow of feeling that has an immediate groove to the viewer. His line drawings have a slight humorous quality, and an orchestration of line to the eye. His drawings and paintings depict an attitude and emotion rare, vivid and unusually enticing.

I just try to capture what I see! I heard someone say once, “If you are afraid to step back, and scared to go forward, go sideways. I’ve spent most of my time moving sideways and it’s in that slant, that the world speaks to me! My goal with art is to touch the viewers’ heart and bring some joy to their world. Hopefully I will have accomplished that with my work.