Rebecca Norton’s 'Climactic' at LADIES' ROOM in LA
By Elizabeth Hazard
Artist melds together color, geometry, and a unique curiosity for perception
Rebecca Norton, Reversal, 2023, Oil and graphite on linen, 44 x 30 inches
Los Angeles-based gallery LADIES’ ROOM, founded by gallerist and curator Annie Wharton, presents a new pop-up exhibition featuring the work of Louisville artist Rebecca Norton at Shapin Nicolas Art Project (SNAP) in Louisville. The exhibit will run in person at SNAP through November 11 and continue until December 16 with LADIES’ ROOM. The show, titled Climactic, is an engaging exploration of the interplay between cognition and the world surrounding us and of perceptions and illusions.
Rebecca Norton identifies herself primarily as a painter, though her practice also encompasses a range of materials and new technology. Her work showcases her interest in color theory, an affinity for geometry, and a unique curiosity for the structures of perception. The artist says, “My practice is diverse, but I do not shy from a painter’s way of enrobing and disrobing the world. The illustrious problematics of bperception are like candy for a device that we call painting, and for me, that is too fantastic a notion to reject. I often use them to fool the eye. Doing so, in a way, calls attention to the very act of seeing and all that goes with it.”
In this new series of paintings, Norton investigates elements of climactic structure to highlight their complexities. The visual analogies and illusionistic techniques at work in Climactic acknowledge the subtle interplay between cognitive and sensory experience. The exhibition serves as a thought-provoking exploration of how our perceptions are shaped, influenced, and evolved. Probing deeply into what she calls “Problems of Perception,” Norton contemplates the possibilities of illusions and hallucinations. She makes us question how this impacts our understanding of reality.
Rebecca Norton, Affinity Cast, 2023, Oil and graphite on linen, 35 x 23 inches
This work presents a mixture of thought and form by expanding conceptual frameworks and blurring the lines between geometric abstraction, figuration, and landscape painting. Norton says that regarding Climactic: “The idea to title the show as such came as I worked on several paintings. My primary interest was placing the body in the landscape, hinted at in this series by the voluminous forms and integration of pinks and flesh tones amongst a palette of earth tones. I wanted to make sensual paintings that evoked a body integrated into and stimulated by its natural surroundings. I was, at the time, also studying the structure of narratives and was contemplating how moments of sexual fantasy and intercourse could seemingly be positioned in the form of a climactic narrative. A ‘good’ story tends to rise and fall. Similarly, the emotional and physical experience of sexual stimulation tends to rise and, escalated to the point of climax, falls. I do feel that a painting, for me, is successful if left suspended in the height of activity- so, in a sense, all the work wants to be held at the pivotal moment. I ended up with several new paintings, all teasing the idea of a body contained at the point of climax within climatic conditions. For me, the wordplay, climactic/climatic, drives home my initial desire to call to mind a body stimulated by its surroundings.”