Rebecca Ness at her studio in New Haven, CT, 2021. © Rebecca Ness. Photo: Jack Pearce

Rebecca Ness was born in Salem, MA in 1992 and currently lives and works in New Haven, CT. She received her BFA from Boston University and MFA from Yale School of Art. 

Her recent oils on canvas and gouaches on paper captured everything from the months of social distancing, over weird moments of studio life, to depictions of personal moments with her girlfriend. She elevated the portrayal of her surrounding to providing us a focused insight into the most personal, and literally locked away parts of life. 

Interested in personal belongings, objects which we associate with value, and in particular collecting mentality, she has painted everything from her family basement, over a pile of books on sale, to the mundane, yet personally significant snapshot of her life. Careful about rendering and recreating all the labels, logos, cover graphics, patterns, signs of wear, and the ways they’re organized, these cultural relics of a suburban Americana are telling stories within stories while being transformed into unconventional still lives of the present day.