In September 2018 Rebecca Campbell will be returning to Jonathan Cooper, Chelsea, with The Collection, an exhibition of 25 new paintings. This solo show will be a joyful celebration of animals and birds in all their forms, from the domestic to the exotic, and the environments they inhabit, from Patagonia to India. Delighting in wordplay and the richness of the English language, each painting is inspired by a collective name for wildlife, and is imbued with the artist’s signature warmth and humour.
I love the eccentricity of the English language and this comes to the fore with the some of the names given to a collective group: for example, A Circus of Puffins; A Streak of Tigers; and A Runcible of Spoonbills. (I feel sure that the latter must have been inspired by Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat!) I grew up in the Irish countryside surrounded by wildlife, and have been lucky enough to do an enormous amount of travelling. This show will not only show my love of animals and birds but also of different environments.– Rebecca Campbell
