di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art maintains a permanent collection of works by Northern California artists that was originally collected by Rene di Rosa (1919-2010) and Veronica di Rosa  (1934–1991). The collection contains notable works by artists living or working in the San Francisco Bay Area from mid-twentieth century to the early twenty-first century, highlighting a story of experimentation of the artists of the region. It is displayed in part, on a rotating basis, in the galleries at di Rosa.

This page represents a just a portion of di Rosa’s rich permanent collection. Stay tuned as we continue to populate this page with artworks from our collection.

di Rosa strives to be a resource for educators, students and lifelong learners. For research inquiries, please contact curatorial@dirosaart.org.

 

Big Daddy's Palette

Sculpture

Large aluminum palette covered with emblems of Big Daddy Roth including Rat Fink

1126

Aluminum

Enamel

Sculpture

AR1126

Mincher/Wilcox Gallery

Purchase

Randy Hussong

1991

Inscription

Below proper left foot of "Rat Fink"

TM Roth 1963

Painted

crediting the imagery of "Rat Fink" as trademarked by Ed Roth, 1963

Object

45 in

72 in

60 in

Far Out

August 2 - October 4, 2025

An Absolute Native Glory: Selections from the di Rosa Preserve Collection

An Absolute Native Glory: Selections from the di Rosa Preserve

Collections Manager

Katie Kime

Jul 29, 2025

Title is in reference to Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, a car obsessed cartoonist and creator of "Rat Fink". "Rat Fink first appeared in the July 1963 issue of "Car Craft". Roth created "Rat Fink" as the antithesis of Mickey Mouse.