Town and Country: The Art of Rebecca Morgan

Description

Town and Country is the first monograph dedicated to the work and unique universe of artist Rebecca Morgan. From deep in rural Pennsylvania to the Pratt Institute and back to Pennsylvania, the book traces the journey of this gifted artist as she becomes increasingly famous in the art world, but feels constantly torn between the rural and the urban. Her paintings, drawings, ceramics, and cartoons subvert the stereotypes of Appalachia and are imbued with folk tradition and a sly sense of humor. Stylistically, Morgan embraces the hyper-detailed naturalism of the Dutch masters as well as the absurd, repulsive caricature suggestive of underground cartoonists such as R. Crumb. Although her artwork often contains modern clues, the characters and scenes evoke a romanticized, nostalgic United States, one that is nonexistent but wistfully recalled.

Rebecca Morgan received a BA from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and her MFA from the Pratt Institute in New York. Her work has received coverage from outlets such as the New York Times, Time Out New York, Hyperallergic, ARTnews, Whitehot magazine, Beautiful Decay, Artslant, Juxtapoz magazine, the Huffington Post, Paper magazine, and Berlin's Lodown magazine. She is the recipient of residencies at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts Residency, among others, and has received a Vermont Studio Center full fellowship and the George Rickey Endowed Residency at Yaddo. Morgan has exhibited widely in the United States and abroad. She lives in Woodstock, Vermont.