We are pleased to present new works by painter & printmaker Rebecca Swainston. Expressive figures and animals, rich in colour and texture, explore narrative themes around the human condition, our thoughts, desires, and vulnerabilities. Rebecca works intuitively keeping each painting’s subject ambiguous, encouraging the viewer to establish their own reading and to develop their own connections.
Her personal symbolism though is ever present, and the new body of work looks at change, loyalty, aging, and journey-taking.
In ‘Crossing the Border’, we see a maternal figure clutching onto a ginger cat, while the crown of an upside-down younger figure’s head rests in the palm of her hand, two others float alongside her. Internal organs, the gut, sits outside the body representing vulnerability and feelings. Dressed in intricately embroidered clothes suggesting luxuries from a former life; their legs are slightly disconnected from the figures creating an uncomfortable feeling of change, moving from one life to another.
‘Dog Rose Tree’ shows an mature woman dressed in overcoat with embroidered flowers, vines, and birds. The embroidered pattern is drifting away from the coat as if it’s coming alive, suggesting the woman is allowing life to take its natural course. A pear tree stands in the background, based on one that Rebecca says has been in her garden for many years, growing fruit that is inedible but still stands due to the care taken for it, it becomes a metaphor for the aging body and endurance of the human spirit.
Dogs are a frequent companion to the figures in Rebecca’s paintings, in ‘The Hunters’, it becomes the central theme, towering over four people as they walk by its side. She is fascinated in their duality, spirituality, and primal instincts. The hunt for her is the excitement of searching for something new, which as an intuitive painter is an ever-present feeling in the studio. A repetitive flower pattern overlays the figures, Rebecca says, ‘Patterns like wallpaper invite a loss of self in an endless loop, both fascinating and maybe a little frightening and it stands for a repeated experience; time, events, days and years that pass or heart beats.’
Rebecca’s new body of work will be hung in the lower gallery.
