Bring Home Rebecca Major’s Thought-Provoking Swirls of Colour

A circle of yellow rises above a faded spectrum beneath, but what can be glimpsed behind the bright layers of colour? Pathways, connections or thoughts?

While the use of colour is what initially strikes you about Rebecca Major’s Amorphous Rainbow #4, its genesis actually lies in a series of mostly monochrome pen drawings that the Hungarian-born artist has been creating over the course of several years.

Now based in New York, Major explains that the Amorphous series “explores imagined spaces of the internal mind, expressed through the possibilities of abstraction”. Her initial inspiration was diagrammatic illustrations she found in antique anatomical reference books.

“Didactic models and illustrations, which pronounce to contain ‘accepted knowledge’ as such, find an alternate parallel of meaning through the images I create,” she says. “I imagine corporeal territories and landscapes of the internal mind by way of free-associative processes of image-making.”

The shift towards colour for Amorphous Rainbow #4 came in 2021, when Major was awarded the Liquitex, Just Imagine residency in New Jersey and had the opportunity to work with acrylic inks from the company’s extensive range of shades.

“A sense of abundance in materials, which culminated in the use of vibrant colours, is evident in this piece,” she explains. “I incorporated a wide array of colourful acrylic ink washes that I applied in translucent brushed layers, creating an atmospheric quality.”

While Major’s current work focuses on the body and psyche, and macro proportions of the internal, the human figure is in fact a central tenet of her wider practice. She has previously examined concepts of identity, persona and the body through sculpture, video and installations, but also added a critical narrative, thinking about women’s roles in society and history.

Major has already exhibited at Grace Space, The Cynthia Broan Gallery, The Anthology Film Archives, and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, and in February 2023 she will join Residency Unlimited in New York for a residency that culminates in a public group exhibition at Residency Unlimited’s Brooklyn gallery space.

This print, with certificate of authenticity, is available exclusively from Elephant in a strictly limited edition of 50.