Rebecca Guyver RBA

Statement

I work from life but believe what is inside the artist is filtered through what she is looking at. I am interested in language and the visual and how one can evoke the other. Meaning is central but for the most part when I paint still life, I assemble my objects considering their relationships (physical and colour) without conscious thought of meaning. In front of landscape I look for a motif that has potential.

Somewhere in the middle of a painting or drawing I try to make sense and understand my objects in their context. I aim to pin the meaning down by researching the objects, reading about colours, figuring out subconscious or aleatoric meaning. How I feel about what I am looking at is part of the outcome. As an optimist, the stories I find are joyful. Words often inspire me.

Sometimes what I am looking at isn’t exactly what it needs to be, so I remove, move, or repaint objects to make everything achieve the harmony I seek. In the end, for me, a painting is not finished until all aspects make sense, the meaning is clear, and any ambiguity is intentional. The best paintings evoke a memory or some universal feeling. 

I like the counterintuitive nature of egg tempera. Although it can take days to paint a small piece, it dries quickly and can be ‘corrected’. I work from general to specific redrawing with pigment until everything is in the right place. I like that when I add white, egg tempera behaves like gouache. Most passages incorporate layers of glazes and alternate between abstract areas of colour, pattern and realistic motifs. Increasingly I feel that my work is about stories in colour.

I grew up in New York City. My mum is an artist/gardener/collector.  Drawing the still life has been something I have always done. I get very excited when I put things together and the colour, pattern and form speak to each other. Then I can’t help but record it, sharing my joy in the everyday.

I have a degree in painting and drawing from Stanford University where I studied with some of the Bay Area painters. They taught me to forget everything I know each time I pick up a drawing tool or brush. I show locally, in America, and have shown repeatedly at the Mall Galleries’ open exhibitions. In 2017, as NEAC Drawing Scholar, I learned the technique of egg tempera with Ruth Stage (NEAC) and Mick Kirkbride. I love the quality of light it creates.