Pennsylvania-born artist Rebecca Morgan works in a variety of media including painting, drawing, and ceramics. Eyeball Painting, included in a recent solo exhibit, "Over the Hill," at Manhattan's Asya Geisberg Gallery, recalls R. Crumb's Stoned Again with its jocular cartoon style. "This painting was a riff on eyeballs like heavy breasts, pouring over the canvas, thinking what it will become, which is what it often feels like for me," she says.
Regarding the "Over the Hill," series, Morgan says, "Most of the images are about navigating uncomfortable feelings and turning them into positions of power that ultimately provide others with levity and lightness."
Though her earlier work dealt with rural stereotypes, identity, and family, "Over the Hill" expands the scope more broadly to Morgan's life now as a 39-year-old. The exhibition also touches on a celebration of self. "Being confident in exactly who you are—the clarity that comes with experience," she says.
Morgan's latest work reveals her evolution as an artist, treating the canvas with a faster, looser approach. She explores themes of time with images within images, often repeating the same images over and over again. Though her work springs from her personal experience, Morgan hopes her message applies to the viewer. "I make images that provide a sense of familiarity, validating shared experience," she says.
A fan of R. Crumb, Morgan is careful to differentiate her work from his. "Crumb draws his diary, spewed out, which I admire. I want to make images that are genuine of my experiences that women can look at and have a feeling of collective relief and reclamation of power."
Having spent most of her adult life traveling to residencies, teaching opportunities, and staying at her mother's in Pennsylvania, Morgan is pleased to have landed as an art teacher at Bard College. "Settling into home is something I've waited for for a very long time. Bard is a great fit for me and is mirrored in my interdisciplinary philosophy, practicing what I preach. Everything in my life has been afforded to me by mentorship and demystification, so I want to reflect that. Living in the Hudson Valley has been profound. I have community and fellowship. I am so inspired to be with so many like-minded individuals," she says.