Rebekah Callaghan | Surfaced

Rebekah Callaghan’s latest series, Surfaced, brings to the forefront themes of discovery and rebirth. In the artist’s words, the paintings materialized one she surrendered her expectations of what they should be and leaned into what they were becoming. In search of discovering something new, Callaghan challenges what feels or appears too familiar to get beyond the boundaries of where she has been, one brushstroke at a time.

Still drawing predominantly from nature and music, she utilizes color to uncover space, tenor, and temperature. The best discoveries emerge when she replaces assurance and habits with questions and reflection. Heavily observational approaches are swapped for a deeper immersion in the paintings’ structure, allowing space for reaction and time for sentiment. More often than not, this means reworking layers, reinventing space, and making room for spontaneity until the paintings eventually surfaced. Some of the paintings are filled with commotion, others with peace. They’re the evidence of the artist’s search for unknown spaces, of leaning in to letting go, and realizing the gift of being there for it.