The Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College is pleased to announce our Fall exhibition Battle Cries, a solo show of paintings spanning a decade of work by Los Angeles Based artist Rebecca Farr.
Reception and Walk Through September 16th 3:00 pm
When Christopher Ulivo came to the studio for final selection of work for the show Battle Cries, he pulled from four bodies of work that span over 10 years and found a theme that periodically comes forth yet somehow surprised me. Battle Cries, is a story of lost warriors and the rupture of identification with land inherent in a war time. Spanning work including a study of Goya’s Disasters of War, Sweet Broken Now, a dystopian gaze at Manifest Destiny, Campfire, a meditation on a single photograph from the civil war and Cave, the Inanna myth of descent and resurrection. In all of these bodies of work there is a collective meditation on the rupture of belonging and I recognize a tenacious pattern to document and digest the acts of broken relationality. I am delighted to be see these paintings in a context that plucks this cord and helps me understand my consistent impulse in painting to mend the concept of relationship with that which is tangible and just right under my feet.
Chirsstoer Ulivo writes:
Rebecca Farr is an artist who seamlessly blends the fictions of reality with the truth of myth. She is breaking open and calling back to a spiritual connection with the earth, one that can be so easily severed in the modern age. Farr’s experience with rural America has shaped her perception of the world. She has cultivated an eye to see extraordinary things everywhere she looks, ranging from mundane landscapes to the spiritual relation people create with land. Rebecca has come to cultivate a style that feels familiar while being completely her own. Her gestural movements highlight the influence of impressionism while creating an otherworldly sense of place. Her bold and individualistic marks sweep the viewer into the scene before them. They are enveloped in deep, rich color palettes that invite moments of reflection and contemplation of the larger question of what makes up the human experience.
