Rebecca Dearden

Artist Bio

Rebecca Dearden is a visual artist who works in many mediums including painting, photography, directing, and writing. Through all of these creative interests, storytelling remains her biggest passion. Rebecca is currently based in San Francisco, California where she works as a Producer in the photography industry. She received her Bachelor's degree from Ithaca College in Cinema and Photography with a minor in Fine Art. Rebecca recently finished production on three episodes of her original television series, Sugar Baby, and is currently in the festival circuit.

Artist Statement

I am a process-oriented painter who creates abstract, figurative pieces. I seldom approach a piece with a concept in mind but rather use an alternative mark-making system that involves painting a subject on separate paper then stamping it onto my canvas or chosen surface. Through this method, the subjects become reversed and altered from my original vision. I enjoy mimicking the organic shapes that form from a process that feels slightly out of my control. I let the work unfold before me and allow the process to inform me as I go. 

My work focuses on gesture and movement. The abstract figures in my pieces are not fully rendered; they are intentionally ambiguous in gender and other identifiers. By excluding context from my subjects, my paintings strive to emphasize the spirit of the gesture or essence of an emotion through exaggerated mark-making and bold color choices. The figures often blend together and exist in vague spaces absent of perspective and a sense of place or time. My goal is for a viewer to return to a piece and discover something new each time- perhaps as their mind searches for figures where figures were never intended to be. 

My most recent work repurposes scrap wood to serve as my canvas. I currently enjoy playing with the texture and imperfections of the surfaces that I source and stumble upon, and my intention is to be more mindful of consumption in my art making and, instead, work with any discarded materials I can find.