e. meganrea90@gmail.com
i. megan_rea_art
Born 1993, lives and works in London
My current practice celebrates fictitious cityscapes in Italian frescoes by reimagining them as architectural fragments in their freshly painted state.
Inspired by the shallow perspective of medieval Sienese and Florentine works, building facades are stripped of their adornments and abstracted, angled to bring them to life in a playful trompe I'oeil. Early renaissance structures depicted in paintings by Fra Angelico and Giotto are re-envisaged in concertina form, enhancing the strength and vigor of the original buildings. Crenellated walls weave around angled pillars, archways stack like bricks to mimic contemporary highrises.
The preparatory technique involves finely blending newspaper with water, draining it, and rolling the pulp onto a wooden board to dry. In some way, this reflects the arduous preparation of the frescoes where layers of plaster were applied before the outline of the composition, sinopie, was painted with an earth-coloured wash in preparation for the final thin layer of plaster, intonaco.
Volume and perspective are achieved in the fresco pieces with the subtle employment of light and shade and I have used colour washes to mimic the once vibrant, now friable appearance of the fresco cycles. This effect is enhanced by the dampened then dried newspaper and echoes the gradual decomposition of the plaster in a number of the fresco cycles, a reminder of the passage of time and of the transitory nature of life itself.
Current
Works on Paper 3, online exhibition, Blue Shop Cottage, London
2021
The Birthday Party, online exhibition curated by The Artists Contemporary
2020
The Bricks That Built The Houses, Holdron's Back Room, Copeland Park, London
2019
Arquitectura and Light, duo exhibition with Gianinna Delpino, Make Space Studios, London
The Summer Show, The House of St Barnabas, London
The Spring Auction, Menier Gallery, London
2018
HIX Award, HIX Gallery, London
Solo exhibition, An Alternate State, Open Contemporary Young Artist Award prize show, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle
RSA John Kinross Scholarship exhibition, Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh
2017
Krung Thep, guest appearance, Bridge Art Space, Bangkok
Intersection, DOK Art Space, Edinburgh
Open Contemporary Young Artist Award, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle
Don Salon, Embassy, Edinburgh
RSA:New Contemporaries, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2016
Spacious, Tent Gallery, Edinburgh
ECA Degree Show, Edinburgh College of Art
Flux, Gayfield Spaces, Edinburgh
Asbestos Rest Stop, Edinburgh College of Art
Salonathon, Embassy Gallery members show, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
Solo Exhibition, Construct, Tent Gallery, Edinburgh
Edinburgh Student Arts Festival, Gayfield Spaces, Edinburgh
2015
Hatch, The Caves, Edinburgh
Auld Alliance Contemporary Exhibitions, French Institute and EDS Gallery, Edinburgh
Low Risk Occupiers, St Margaret’s House, Edinburgh
F7, Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh, Sponsored by Propercorn Popcorn
Edinburgh Student Arts Festival, Whitespace Gallery/Gayfield Creative Spaces, Edinburgh
BA (hons) Fine Art, Edinburgh College of Art (2013-16)
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, University of the Arts London (2012-13)
HIX Award Shortlisted Artist 2018
RSA John Kinross scholarship 2017
Open Contemporary Young Artist Award 2017
RSA New Contemporaries Selected Artist 2017
My online portfolio was created using Format.