The Power of a Purple Crayon

Rebecca Ness Coming Into Her Own

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Rebecca Ness

Since we first engaged with Rebecca Ness during her time at Yale, it was clear she perceived the world from a unique angle, developing a density in realistic paintings, looking at friends and peers with a maximal and virtuoso command of canvas. Close-ups of hands and overhead views of desks and bodies displayed keen-eyed examinations of daily life. Over the past few years, Ness’ lens has zoomed out, with social environments taking focus, whether friends’ studios and homes, her own domestic space, or other places we occupy in our personal lives. Though realistic in style, fantasy inhabits each work, creating a place that is solidly familiar but imbued with a visionary utopia.

Charles Moore: The Art Cologne Fair is an event I’ve wanted to attend, so I’d like to start off with your recent experience. How did you participate, and was it different compared to other shows?

Rebecca Ness: I didn’t physically attend myself. Carl Kostyal presented at the fair in a solo booth of three works, some of the largest works I’ve ever done, a series called Heartbreak at Gingers. Gingers is this well-known, long-running dyke bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn. When I first moved to New York about two years ago and was sad, single, and lonely, it was where I’d go to visit friends.