Rebecca Ness: Inheritance

     I found this exhibit to be a refreshing homage to life and art culture. As I passed each work I felt as though I was in on the joke, being invited to the artist's wealth of experience in traditional and modern fine arts. The paintings were a fascinating mix of trompe l'oeil and historical moments, cherry picking pieces of art history and bringing time forward with current sentiments and queer symbols. As a queer show I felt there was a refreshing lack of overtly sexual shock art, instead replaced with an intimate view of queer romance and pride. These works retold the artist story but were right beside city life and modern internet culture. A detail I did not notice until later review was that each painting had a distinct background, that of an art school pin-up wall, each panel bolted in as needed. There is a nice efficiency to the work, even in the midst of all that detail, the painter lets go and lets the viewer imagine. The only piece that broke this recall exercise was the gay bar scene; the painting is inherently photographic. The build of moments in time is abruptly broken and we are now in our time. At first I felt adverse to this break, but then tying into the inheritance theming I think the bar is a culmination of our history thrown back at us, hopefully to show how far we have come in the face of adversity.