Embodyment: Introducing Rebecca Swainston

In January 2022, we are delighted to introduce you to the painter and printmaker Rebecca Swainston, when she will reveal a series of brand-new works, alongside some selected paintings from her studio. 

Her work is highly expressive, richly textured and colourful, drawing inspiration from 'the human condition' - our thoughts, our desires and vulnerabilities. The figures in her work are seated, floating or leaping, stretching out or stricken in a dreamlike state. Often, they are clothed in elaborate costumes or heavy shoes. Animals appear suggesting altered states of mind, influences or energies while at the same time embodying feelings of displacement and separation.  

She says of her work: 'Much of the work interweaves ideas of the changing nature of identity, existence and perception and explores the shifting ground of human existence.' 

'I draw on contemporary and personal events and observations. I look at our relationship with the environment, where one thing ends and another begins, what is us and what is other, what is taken into the body or the mind and when it becomes part of us.'

Rebecca Swainston trained at Chelsea School of Art, and Winchester School of Art, where she was a teaching fellow and lecturer. She continues to teach and mentor emerging and established artists. Rebecca lives and works in Berkshire, UK.

We welcome you to a private view on Wednesday 9th February, 6-8pm. Meet the artist and enjoy a poetry reading by Lesley Saunders in response to Rebecca's paintings. Please RSVP to Sarah Wiseman gallery, info@wisegal.com or 01865 515 123.