*Megan Rea*

After graduating from the Edinburgh College of Art, Rea received a scholarship to study in Florence. During her time there, her focus shifted from the external features of medieval architecture to the 13th-15th century Italian frescoes adorning church walls. Rea also takes inspiration from paintings made in the Middle Ages as well as gothic design; collisions between the imaginary and the reliquary suggest a rediscovery of a life once lived, or perhaps one yet to be. 

During the pandemic when access to art supplies became limited, Rea began working on homemade blended paper, whose malleability, freedom of the form, flexibility, and the array of densities and sizes created exciting opportunities for her work. By shaping the paper from pulp, Rea is able to experiment with irregular forms, giving the paintings the appearance of a preserved ruin. The irregular perimeter of the paintings holds qualities of an eroding exterior and further plays with the idea of synthetic time. The paper surface is pocked, allowing gems of paint from early washes to be caught and shine through the layers applied. Symmetry and multiples are the focus of new paintings, using narratives from Italian Saints as the inspiration for painted stone structures. 

Rea’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Stellarhighway, NYC; Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland; and Copeland Park in London, UK.

Group exhibitions include those at Bloom Galerie, St. Tropez, FR; Janet Rady Fine Art, London, UK; The Tub, London, UK; and, Studi0, Zurich, CH. Her work has been published twice in Artmaze Magazine. She was also a recipient of the John Kinross Scholarship, an RSA New Contemporaries selection and the Open Contemporary Young Artist Award, and shortlisted for the HIX Award. Rea lives and works in East London.

Please email info@paradigm-gallery.com if you wish to be added to Megan Rea's digital collector preview list for all of her upcoming projects and exhibitions. You may also submit your request here.

Megan Rea's newest collection is now available for purchase below. Read the press release here.