Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Campbell.
Hi Rachel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was a creative child from the beginning. I was always out making a mess, creating things, or writing plays, or drawing. I had a lot of freedom as a child and spent a lot of time alone. It was a special time, lost in my ideas. So I have always been an artist. I went to Art School after high school and after a few years as a professional actor I began my career as a painter. My life has involved quite a few changes in geography which has meant starting over in new countries and trying to gain traction with my work. This has been an influence in my work–being in different cultures. To get where I am now, I have simply kept patient and stayed the course. This does mean that I never know where my life and work will take me next.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Painting and the solitude that comes with it is not a smooth road, at least for me! I do love the solitude now, but there are demons in the quiet–a lot of self judgement and feelings of not quite making the work that is in my mind’s eye.
The biggest struggles for me occurred around starting over in the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and then the USA at different points through the journey. Also not having gallery representation or a community of artists that you have worked alongside for a time. However, being a painter for me is a great privilege and I’m so grateful to have been able to keep going, and now have the satisfaction of looking back over the work I have produced over many decades. I am content.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I paint medium to larger scale work in oil on canvas.
My paintings are about commonplace moments that intrigue me. I find beauty in unexpected places, hiding in plain sight. I then use oil paint on canvas to depict these moments with rich and colorful compositions. My depictions are not literal. The moments of unexpected beauty are abstracted although the places and images remain recognizable. I use color to shape the composition and to communicate my relationship with it. My palettes are varied and bold but resonant and integrated.
Some of my paintings depict specific moments that have brought me joy. I paint to capture them and to share them. But other moments are more complex, intertwined with memories and their narratives. Storied paintings should not try to say too much. And people are usually implied rather than depicted in my works. They are present but they live just outside the actual frame, off-stage, invited but not yet in view.
The scale of my work varies depending on how I want my audience to relate to the moment in view. A larger work draws the viewer in to feel as if they have become a part of the composition. (A painting larger than one half of the human body will always generate this sense of incorporation.) Smaller works encourage a harmonious yet distinct relationship.
Most importantly of all, my moments are playful. I am influenced by artists who invoke playfulness as a core tenet within their aesthetics—Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, David Hockney, Laura Owens, and Jonas Wood. But real play does not come easily. I conjure play from the cracks of a world that can be hard and even abusive. Such play is supremely important. It grounds our joys and our hopes. When so many things say ‘no’ to life, play says ‘yes.’ My paintings all say ‘yes.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My gallery relationships here in North Carolina are very important to me: Craven Allen Gallery in Durham and Momentum Gallery in Asheville. (My next solo show will be at Craven Allen Gallery opening November 14th.) My husband and extended family have always been my biggest cheerleaders, and without them I might well have fallen by the wayside at some point over the years! I have had many mentors and supporters, often artists I have met on artist residencies. The conversations and relationships I have built there with other artists and visiting professors have been very important to my work. They all have helped me know that I am on the right track, that I have got something important to say that might not be mainstream.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rachelcampbellpainting.com
- Instagram: campbellpaints
- Facebook: rachel campbell painting
