The Calling, 2024
Megan Rea (b. 1993) creates work inspired by 13th-15th century Italian frescoes following time spent in Florence on a scholarship. Taking inspiration from paintings made in the Middle Ages and Gothic architecture, collisions between the imaginary and the reliquary suggest a rediscovery of a life lived.
Shaping the paper by hand, her paintings imitate the passing of time and reflect the weathering of an old fresco-ed wall. The pocked surface allows gems of paint from early washes to be visible after subsequent layers build up. The irregular perimeter of her paintings holds qualities of an eroding exterior and further plays with the idea of synthetic time.
Since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2016 (BA Painting), Megan has exhibited internationally in London, New York and St Tropez, with highlights including RSA New Contemporaries (2017), Cool Fresh Sweet Waters alongside Becky Tucker and Nina Silverberg at The Tub, London (2022), and winning The Morrison Foerster (London) Art Prize 2023.
