We are excited to host Rebecca James' first solo exhibition at Boom. Rebecca's work communicates honesty and openness about the human condition and our interactions with others in a playful and thoughtful way. She creates harmony through repetition, a consistent subdued colour palette and composition but simultaneously depicts discord and a lack of connection among the figures shown. This unease is portrayed not purely as a negative but rather as a reality of human interaction among family, friends and acquaintances. The artist invites us to enjoy, celebrate or at least accept these moments as part of the experience of joining together. 

Many of Rebecca's paintings portray groups of people seated around a dining table set not for eating but for conversing, socialising and drinking. Alongside these works are more intimate portraits of individual figures. These larger-scale depictions directly convey their mood and emotions to the viewer creating a sense of connection and relatability. We look forward to sharing this significant body of work with you. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

"The table is the centre of the home. It's where we sustain ourselves with daily meals and gather to mark life’s milestones. Across its surface, we argue, gossip, laugh, and occasionally weep. It’s where we celebrate and where we mourn. We use it for occasions both celebratory and routine—from hosting fancy parties to the quiet tasks of arranging flowers or folding laundry.

Dutch priest and writer Henri Neuman suggested that when we sit down to eat or even perform mundane chores at the table we are participating in the ritual of being human. The table, he says, is 'one of the most intimate places in our lives. It is there that we give ourselves to one another…' and also that 'precisely because the table is meant to be an intimate place, it easily becomes the place we experience the absence of intimacy.'  

This exhibition is a study not of wooden surfaces and turned legs but a celebration of the human story that unfolds when we pull up a chair. "

BIO

Rebecca James is an emerging artist from Warrnambool, Victoria. She loves to paint people and her work captures the gestures, facial expressions and emotions that are common to all of us. Whether it’s the feeling of loneliness and despair that can sometimes plague us, or the joy of connecting at a party or over a meal, her figurative paintings are ultimately a celebration of the human condition. There is a marked sense of humour evident in her work, a playful naivety that highlights the wonderful individuality of each character she paints.

She is interested in situations that connect us, the stories that help us make sense of the world. Her paintings encourage us to pause for a moment, to consider and wonder about the people and objects within. They invite us to enter the narrative of the picture, to smile with a sense of nostalgic familiarity, and ultimately to interpret the work through the lens of our own experiences and memories, our own complex lives.

Rebecca has been a finalist in both the Mandorla Art Prize and the Biblio Art Prize. She has exhibited at art fairs and with a variety of galleries across Australia. Her work was recently selected to exhibit in the prestigious ACB Selects exhibition in Sydney. She has five children, one husband, two scruffy dogs and lives in a very small house on a big block of land.