artists statement

My practice centers on surrealist and abstract oil paintings that feature a slowly evolving cast of characters and symbols moving between interior and exterior worlds. A significant theme in the work is bistability—the coexistence or interpretation of two physical forms within a single image—which gently coax the viewer to shift their perception between competing realities.

Broadly autobiographical, these symbols draw from my domestic environment as well as formative influences pagan imagery and female mythology.  The symbols change in their hierarchical position as they move through differently stylized painterly scenes in an otherworldly or dreamlike manner. The work suggests a gentle oddness, without insisting upon its own strangeness of itself.

The imagery sits in conversation with the surrealist worlds of Dorothea Tanning, René Magritte and Joan Miró. My background in cognitive neuroscience, along with personal challenges in visual perception, informs my play with monocular cues and perceptual ambiguity to achieve surrealistic effects.

When presented as a collection, the works invite viewers to construct their own narratives—moving between and within the paintings to create stories woven from recurring forms and symbols.

BIOGRAPHY

Rachel L Bedder (b. 1991, Norwich UK) is a visual artist working primarily in oil on canvas. She is drawn to particular organic and inorganic objects which become characters throughout her artworks, including fish, a moka pot, her cats and the moon. Originally hoping to be an art therapist, Rachel undertook an undergraduate degree in Art & Psychology at the Reading School of Art (UK), before pursuing a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience & psychology at University College London, and later returning to her love of painting during the pandemic lockdown. For several years she was the scientific curator & co-director of AXNS Collective, a group of young professionals developing programming and commissioning artwork to engage the public with science, working with Science Museum, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and Kings College London. She is passionate about education for all, and has held adjunct faculty positions at Bard Microcollege at Brooklyn Public Library, and at Raritan Valley Community College at East Jersey State Prison. Rachel lives and works in Jersey City (NJ) & NYC (NY).