REBECCA FARR
Rebecca’s paintings rise from the concept of body through philosophical, and historical (mis) understandings. Paint glides between intuitive free mark making and classical impressionism in works that freshly express color line and texture. Her conversation of embodiment and the abstraction of meaning are at times a gritty wrestling match of thick paint and at others, light strokes in search of beauty. Symbols and narratives populate the paintings and function as markers, gathering the collective and the personal in a world in which the divides of mind and body are invited to fall away. Raised in the Pacific Northwest, and currently resides in Los Angeles. She has exhibited in Los Angeles at Five Car Garage, Klowden Mann, in Seattle at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, along with presentations at multiple art fairs throughout the United States. From 2015-17 she was a faculty artist in the education department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, overseeing multiple public projects. Her recent residencies include Kaus Australis in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Les Laboratories Aubervillers in Paris, France and NADA house on Governors Island, New York.
Nestled in the servant’s quarters of Nada House I have centered my artist residency on objects of trade between the matriarchal society of the Lanape People and Wouter Van Twiller, general for the Dutch West India Company in 1637. The traditional hunting ground of Nut Island (Governor‘s Island ) was reportedly occupied in exchange for two axe heads, a string of beads and a handful of nails. Thus, marking the inception of this island as a military presence that has been an active landscape in every major battle fought on American soil since. This complicated and meager offering/ occupation has become the focus of my work at Nada House. The Owl, a globally present master of hunting, and symbolic image of wisdom and observation stands as a tall guardian of this black papered night space. The 86” gesso owl paintings hang in close quarters with the objects of trade and encounter the viewer in a meditation of value, sacrifice and power. Outside of the room of papered installation and clay oil paintings of Owls in states of hunt invite the viewer into a relationship with the nature of hunting and the natural world. Nada House Artist Residency 2022, Governor’s Island New York.
Exhibitions: