Wednesday, November 30, 2016

An artist that I have continuously come back to throughout the year is Rebecca Campbell for her large-scale fantasy-like depictions of people. Initially, I was drawn to her work because of the use of color. Campbell’s streaky brush strokes render kaleidoscopic, vibrant images that flow with color, whether she is depicting a landscape or a portrait. She uses vibrant colors, using warm colors in the light, contrasting them with cool colors as darker tones. By doing so, her work not only gives the viewer a sense of space and depth, but also a sense of temperature. The world in which her subjects exist seemingly comes to life because it gives a sense of warmth or coldness. The images are captivating in that sense, welcoming the viewer into a completely different world through the use of color and form.
Dig
For example, in her work Glow (2013) the variation in the brush strokes and the background make it seem as though the landscape does on beyond the horizon, even beyond the canvas. The portrait of the woman appears to be floating in this chilly land enfolded by the warmth of the lights around her. This warmth is reflected on her face and her arms.  
Glow
After having done more research on her work, I learned that her work reflects the themes of nostalgia, the sentimental, and the emotional, often tying in imagery and memories from her past, her family, cultural history, and her own feelings of nostalgia. She presents the images so that nostalgia may be seen under the light of feminine sublime. About nostalgia she says:

“When a person acutely experiences nostalgia, time collapses and the past, the present, and the future become one. . . Time becomes nonlinear in a space that is both sad and sweet at the same time. Nostalgia somehow enables us to sing along to the tune of our own deaths.”

Stand and DeliverSaid the Lady to the Man

Although her work is visually appealing, knowing the meaning behind her work makes it so much more powerful. She paints the feminine figure with such grace and forceful streaks that they depict beautiful images women while highlighting their strength and power, fighting against the ideas of female frailty and male supremacy. 
Her more recent work is different than her older work in that it draws on cubism as she draws the female figure, veiled by blocky moments of opacity achieved by juxtaposing blocks of color over the image. This work explores the paradoxical relationship between patriarchal images of beauty and desire, showing the woman, yet concealing her body with a “teasing veil”.

Miss April 1971
Rebecca Campbell ties in personal experiences and her own desires into her work, allowing for beautifully honest depictions of the workings of her mind.

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