Abstraction has been a fundamental part of Rebecca’s practice since her Fine Art Degree (1992-96). Using landscape and the natural world as a starting point, the subject then fully or partially gives way to the pure joy of paint, drawn lines and marks on a surface. And once a painting is complete there then begins a collaborative interaction with the viewer, allowing them the freedom to bring their own experiences, emotions and memories to their reading of the work. She works towards abandoning the sense that abstraction and figuration are mutually exclusive. The paintings can depict a notionally ‘real’ space, whilst also functioning, on closer inspection, as autonomous, non-referential, abstract and emotional objects.
Working primarily with water-based materials allows the use of water itself as part of the process, painting layers and then fully or partially washing them away, taking advantage of the ‘happy accidents’ that occur, bringing an element of experimentation into every painting. She enjoys the use of adding a graphic line to create silhouettes, redacting negative space, playing with foreground/background, or focusing so closely on something that it becomes essentially abstract.
Rebecca says, “My consistent focus since graduating has been to play with the balance between representation and abstraction, the idea of suggesting something to a viewer and then essentially thwarting that perception by drawing them in to see the beauty of paint on a surface. The perception of the viewer is essential to the concept of the paintings, they may ‘see’ something recognizable, relate to a painting on some level involved with their own memories, but I want to take them past that, to see the paint, react emotionally to the actual painting, not just to the perceived subject of the piece.
