We first met artist Rebecca Fairfax at Art Santa Fe in 2024 and were intrigued with her expressive use of oil and cold wax to create each of her works of art. We wanted to know more about this artist and how this interesting medium became her choice. Let’s see what she has to say.

ABN: Introduce yourself — who you are and what is your vision as an artist is?

RF: I am an intuitive, abstract, realist and expressionist artist. A bit of a mouthful, I know, but each one describes my particular mix of abstract techniques with recognizable forms and my focus on expressing some small yet universal aspect of our complex human experience.

Only with oil and cold wax medium can I create so many multiple layers of contrasting thicknesses and colors – cool and warm, dark and light, opaque and transparent – that express energy, thought, mood and emotion. I seek to explore the interplay between the physical and metaphysical, where figures emerge and recede from and into the background and foreground, often as in a dream. I invite the viewer to enjoy the subtle yet often playful, quirky and whimsical narratives as well as the deeper meanings in each painting.

ABN: What is your background?

RF: I grew up in suburban Boston surrounded by the bold colors and textures of my mother’s finely crafted quilts and hooked rugs – she often exhibited them in local shows and even museums.

Still, my first career was as a public radio reporter and TV scriptwriter, magazine and newspaper journalist and children’s book author, all while supporting my daughter as a single mother. Working mostly freelance, I was able to live, work and extensively travel abroad — from Europe to Asia and South America. I also speak fluent French, good Spanish and some German and Russian. During those fascinating years, I wrote on pretty much everything — from Art to the Zuni.

In time, though, with a desire to express myself through the visual arts, I traded in my keyboard for a palette and canvas, experimenting with acrylic and oil until I discovered the challenges, delights and power of oil and cold wax.

ABN: What is your work philosophy and how does that impact your work?

RF: As with my writing career, I’m a bit of a workaholic – the creative process is so rich and exciting that it rarely sleeps, and I try to keep up with it. Time in my home studio opens new worlds every day – I can hardly wait to see what awaits. Paintings call from every easel and on my worktable, letting me know what they want to become. It’s a collaboration – I listen to the paint and cold wax, and we work together to bring images, ideas, and stories to life.

Each piece takes weeks or longer to complete – from the initial layers of gesso through the drying or semi-drying of each layer to the drawing of each image and excavating into the paint to the final application of stain on the sanded canvas cradles. There is always so much to do in preparing my work for shows and collectors.

ABN: What artist(s) inspire you?

RF: So many inspire me – from the early cave people to the latest wave of creatives seeking new modes of visual expression with digital art. That said, I have been most influenced by Renaissance figure drawings, and the colors, textures and creative courage of Manet, Van Gogh, Sargent, Turner, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler and so many others – I’m both a traditionalist and modernist in this 21^st century.

Outside of the visual arts, my great inspirations have been the mother of modern dance, Isadora Duncan, the avant-garde filmmaker, Maya Deren, the inimitable Bob Dylan and so many of the great early rock ‘n roll songwriters/poets. I often find ways to incorporate their images and vision into my work.

ABN: What is the best advice you’ve received?

RF: Stay true to your vision. This can be so challenging for so many artists as they work to find and maintain their unique style and voice. There are many ups and downs that come with following one’s own creative journey, and while we should always be open to new ideas and influences, we must primarily remain true to our creative self.

ABN: When you are not working, where can we find you?

RF: Taking a daily morning walk with my husband in our rural Santa Fe neighborhood; enjoying time with friends and other artists; attending concerts, gallery and museum openings; and traveling to the ocean, the only thing missing in our beautiful New Mexico landscape. Having spent my summers on Cape Cod, I always long for the sound of waves while walking on a beach.

ABN: Any plans for 2025? Where will your creativity take you? I

RF: This year, after a long, wonderful winter of hibernating and painting in my studio, I will be unveiling and exhibiting a new series, “Emerging and Receding,” at both the Santa Fe Studio Tour during the last two weekends of June, and Art Santa Fe in mid-July.

This is a huge and exciting step forward in my artistic evolution; I’ll have up to 25 paintings that bring together all that I have been working toward since embarking on my artistic journey. While I will be showing all of those works during the Studio Tour, a small selection will be available during Art Santa Fe. And my next step is gallery representation – stay tuned!

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Learn more about Rebecca at https://rebeccafairfax.com

And see her at Art Santa Fe, July 11-13, in Booth 300.

The post Meet the Artist: Rebecca Fairfax appeared first on Art Business News.

Q: Who are you and what do you do?

A: I am Joshua Rios, 33 years old, a California native now residing in San Diego. I am an oil painter in abstract, expressionism, realism, and allover styles. When I’m not painting, I work as a k-12 visiting teacher for San Diego Unified. I also play guitar, make frames, and write novels and short stories.

Q: What is your background?

A: Beginning in high school I took art and ceramic classes for electives. I did not know then how important art would be in my life, so I merely enjoyed them without expectation. While going to community college I started painting on my own to decorate my bedroom walls, and eventually took several art classes, from general sketching to advanced painting. While earning my bachelor’s degree at San Jose State University I continued painting in my spare time and began creating digital artwork. During my years in San Jose, I was accepted into the Kaleid art gallery downtown for local artists and was a vendor for many art fairs in San Jose’s SOFA district, such as first Fridays and their multi-day subZERO art festival.  

Q: How do you work?

A: When painting at home I put away all distractions, sometimes working in complete silence or playing instrumental music in the background. Working with oil requires patience; it takes a while for the paint to set. But since I don’t have any, I am often working on multiple paintings at a time between sessions. Whether painting on site or in my home I absorb myself entirely and work as swiftly as I can. I will paint until a subject is finished or the canvas is completely wet and I can no longer add layers. I try to be efficient and plan out the amount of time and sessions I will work on a single painting. However, this is hardly the case and I accept my process must be free to continue as long as it takes. The process is a journey. I can only control it so much before I find myself working with a painting as much as on it. 

Q: What art and artist do you most identify with? How have they influenced you?

A: For whatever reason I have always found that abstract paintings resonate the most with me. I remember first learning about Jackson Pollock in high school during art class when our art teacher showed us one of his most famous works (number 31). I was so pleased to know that his style of art was valued in the world. This was before I had ever painted a picture in my life, yet I knew once I had the freedom I would create the same style of painting. I believe artists are inherently intuitive.

Learning about Van Gogh’s artwork was a similar experience for me. Viewing his sketch, The Postman, was the first time I recognized an artist’s style without seeing their signature. The professor showed the sketch and I instantly knew it was Van Gogh. It is like his signature is embedded within the artwork itself, that is how distinct his style is. And that is something I strive for as an artist. Whenever I paint scenes and subjects, I am always thinking of Van Gogh’s creative perspective and vibrant imagination.   

I also must mention Pablo Picasso, who I love for his fun, and simple yet sophisticated subjects. His paintings blossom in the imagination and take the edge off the seriousness of life. He is another artist who makes me confident in pursuing my own style with no expectations but my own. 

Q: What has been your favorite experience so far as an artist?

A:  I started painting to experiment with color and design and decorate my walls. I was hooked when I realized how much artwork can positively change a living space and add to our lives. The more I painted the more ideas I had, and I fell in love with the possibilities. I look forward to bringing more unique artworks into the world for myself and others to enjoy. My favorite experience has been rediscovering a years-old painting and being inspired and reassured by it. It’s like receiving a message from your younger self hoping to tell you how talented you were yesterday, are today, and will be tomorrow. 

Q: What is the best advice you have received?

A: I learned many years ago that good advice can come from anywhere. One day while painting outside my apartment, my neighbor, an older gentleman who comes from a family of musicians, was walking out of his house and saw me working. He approached my station and asked what I was up to. I told him I was just experimenting with some paintings. He studied my work and then said, “you know, eventually it just comes down to proficiency. How proficient are you at what you do? Because not everybody’s going to like the same stuff. But if you can be proficient at what you do, then you’re doing alright, man.” That might have been the first time I thought of myself as having a distinct style of painting and realizing it doesn’t have to please everybody. 

Q: When you are not working, where can we find you?

A: When I am not working I am working. My day job as an educator keeps me busy during the week. When I come home, I rest, eat, and then start painting, practicing music, or working on a writing project. But aside from work and home, I enjoy exercising, either at the gym, the park or just around my neighborhood. I like to get out in nature and take hikes or just walk around the city and find a new restaurant to eat at. Sometimes I go out and listen to live music on the weekends at a few different venues. You can find me at Balboa Park, walking through the museums, enjoying the scenery, or just passing through. I also go to Mission Bay or any of the beaches in San Diego when I want to swim or just relax outside. 

Q: How has your career as an artist shifted during the past two years? And did the pandemic have an influence on your art?

A: Two years ago I was not engaged with growing my career as an artist. I painted on a whim, reluctant to share my new work with others just yet. I had only just started painting again in 2018 when I moved into my own apartment in San Diego after not painting for 6 months. Over the pandemic, I completed several works that broke me through to a whole new level of expectation for myself. I knew it was time to start selling my paintings in San Diego once the pandemic was over. The most significant thing I did was build my website, which is now my most valuable tool as both a storefront and portfolio.

I painted only two pandemic-influenced paintings. One was at the beginning of the lockdown and the other was right before I caught covid-19, which ironically portrayed how it felt being ill. It’s a painting called The Blues on my website. Aside from the pleasant downtime, the pandemic provided me, I tend to keep it well in the rearview mirror and do not remember it often.

Attending Art San Diego 2022? Make sure to stop by booth #324 to meet Joshua and see more of his pieces!

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