James Makin Gallery welcomes Rebecca Wallis

James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, has added another well-respected artist to their already impressive stable, with Rebecca Wallis bringing with her a thoughtful and evocative practice.

Wallis largely works with acrylic applied to translucent silk canvas, her abstracted painterly marks clinging to diaphanous, sometimes deconstructed surfaces. By unravelling the art object and exposing its bare bones, the artist questions concepts of tangibility and existence. Wallis describes the experience of making as “who I think I am ruptures, and what remains is this strange experience of more”.

Through this distinctive approach, Wallis feeds into ideas of abjection, jouissance, the semiotic, Lacan’s ‘Real’ and Freuds Uncanny. Her works are found in collections across the world, and have been included in several publications including 250 Years of New Zealand Painting, 2021, by Gill Docking, Michael Dunn and Edward Hanfling. Wallis has exhibited across New Zealand and Australia, as well as Hong Kong, London and Taiwan. In the last few years alone she has been a finalist in the Painting and Printmaking Art Award, Hamilton, the Parkin Prize, Wellington, Painting + Printmaking Art Award, Hamilton and the Wallace Art Awards, Auckland.

James Makin Gallery have announced a solo show with the artist, set to be held in 2024.