Sweet and Sinister

Rebecca Stevenson

Searching for the avant-garde in contemporary wax and encaustic artmaking is challenging and subjective. Although the term “avant-garde” was originally applied to innovative approaches to art making in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, it is applicable to all art that pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity and is still used today to describe art that is radical or reflects originality of vision.

Rebecca Stevenson’s work can be shocking in its juxtaposition of content within masterfully-modeled structure. In this interview, the artist explains her intent and influences and shares her processes with Wax Fusion readers.

We’d like to open with a quote from the catalogue of your recent solo exhibition, Bacchanale, at the James Freeman Gallery in London:

“Stevenson’s specialism is wax, an ancient but often overlooked sculptural medium. The history of wax is deep, from the lost wax processes used in bronze sculpture dating back to the Egyptians in antiquity and its use in the creation of death masks since Roman times, through to the wax portrait pictures of the 16th and 17th centuries, and as a medium for anatomical models from the 17th century onwards ... In all instances, wax is related to the body and to the ephemerality of flesh…”

There is a Spell in Every Sea-shell Wax and polyester resin 46 x 35 x 30 cm Also featured on the front cover.

Has wax been a major component of your sculptural practice from the beginning? How/why did you choose it?

Yes, I began working in wax early in my student days, attracted by its translucent and visceral qualities. I quickly came to appreciate its immediacy and versatility as a medium. Later, I started to research the history of wax in sculpture and this fed my fascination. I was inspired by the virtuosity of the Italian anatomical wax modelers of the 17th century and made pilgrimages to Florence and Bologna to see their work. My early practice was centered on the human body, and I remain enthralled by the privileged relationship of wax to flesh. It has been the medium of choice for ‘body doubles’ of all kinds – from funereal efgies to votive body parts to Madame Tussaud’s. I think it’s this which gives wax its special uncanny quality.

Folie Anglaise Wax and polyester resin 65 x 49 x 40 cm

Coralline, Front and Reverse Wax and polyester resin 63 x 38 x 30 cm

Coralline, Details Wax and polyester resin

It’s fascinating to see the contradictory terms that people use to describe your work – “sweet and sinister” - “attract and repel” – “decoration and decay”- “figurative and surreal.” Even though your work often references the Dutch painters who juxtaposed dead animals with fruit and flowers, somehow viewers find your sculptures more shocking, perhaps because wax can reproduce the objects so perfectly in three dimensions. How do you feel about these complex reactions, and how would you like viewers to respond to your work?

I revel in complexity and ambivalence, and these are exactly the kind of the reactions I’m hoping to elicit! Wax plays a crucial role in generating both attraction and repulsion – it mimics all kinds of materials so perfectly (flowers, fruits, or foodstufs), while also embodying that lovely fleshy uncanniness. It’s the perfect medium to ‘get under the skin’ of the viewer. Many of my works resemble confectionery. I enjoy the idea that looking at these works might trigger a sensory as well as an aesthetic response – a play on the idea of (good and bad) ‘taste.’

In a video interview, you were asked about the relationship between art, craft, and sculpture as those labels pertain to your work. Often artists who work in wax struggle with those terms. Could you talk a little more about that?

I describe what I do as sculpture, that’s where my practice is grounded. But I also have a strong relationship to craft - my processes, techniques, and relation to materials are deeply personal and key to the development of my pieces. I use traditional sculpture techniques such as modelling in clay, but when I come to create the still life elements of the work — pigmenting wax and composing the flowers, fruit, and other elements — my process is more like that of a painter. In a sense my practice sits at the intersection between these three. Currently, I’m seeing a crossover from the craft scene to the art world, with artists working in textiles or ceramics (for example) highly visible in contemporary art spaces. The definitions of ‘art’ and ‘craft’ are becoming more fluid. But there is still a desire to categorize artists and makers according to these terms, and there can be snobbery or preconceptions around this, which is frustrating.

Rapture Wax and polyester resin 45 x 50 x 50 cm

Medusa, Front and Reverse Wax and polyester resin 55 x 25 x 25 cm

The theme for our Spring 2022 issue is “avant-garde,” and we are inviting artists to explore “What is avant-garde in the 21st Century?” and share their most avant-garde art, techniques, and materials.

As applied to art, avant-garde means art that is innovatory, introducing, or exploring new forms or subject matter. From your perspective, what is avant-garde in the 21st Century?

There’s such diversity in contemporary practice that in some ways the term ‘avant-garde’ itself seems out of date. There’s no clear trajectory or narrative where one clearly-defined art movement is succeeded by another - that belongs to art history.

Many people associate the avant-garde with the digital, be that NFTs or artworks created on or by computers. For me, however, the true avant-garde has got to be the place where the digital can’t go. If our world is to be run by AIs, we need our art to speak to what remains irredeemably human. In this sense, the dance between mastery and accident that happens when a painter picks up her brush — or a sculptor presses a piece of soft wax in her hand — can represent something both avant-garde and timeless.

Finally, we would love to know a bit more about your processes. You’ve generously offered to share a bit of that with us. Tell more!

I use many processes in my work and I’m always experimenting! But here’s a brief overview: I usually begin by modelling my subject in clay, for example, an animal or portrait bust. At this stage the form is intact and does not have any decoration or detail. When the clay sculpture is complete, I take a mould from it using silicone rubber. I then cast the sculpture in layers of pigmented wax reinforced with polyester resin. Once the sculpture is demoulded, I move to the second stage of the process, a kind of ‘unmaking.’ I make cuts in the piece and peel back the layers, creating ‘wounds’ or cavities. I then create elaborate cornucopias of flowers and fruits in these internal spaces. Fruits are sometimes cast and sometimes modelled; flowers made from poured sheets of wax. I like the interplay of elements cast from nature and others that are invented, and I also enjoy working very spontaneously with the wax at this stage, maybe also applying molten wax with a brush, tearing and folding wax sheets, allowing the generation of unexpected forms and juxtapositions.

Melancolia Wax and polyester resin 103 x 53 x 46 cm

About the Artist

Rebecca Stevenson is a British artist who studied sculpture at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. She has been making and exhibiting wax sculpture for over 20 years.

Stevenson’s solo exhibitions include: Bacchanale at James Freeman Gallery, London; Fantasia at Van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne; Tempting Nature at Mogadishni, Copenhagen; Exquisite Corpse at DomoBaal Contemporary Art, London.

Recent group exhibitions include: Centuries in the Making at Bonhams, London and Compton Verney, Warwickshire.; Artists’ Conquest at Pillnitz Palace and Museum of Applied Arts, Dresden; So Beautiful It Hurts at James Freeman Gallery, London; B.A.R.O.C.K. at Caputh Palace, Potsdam, and ME Collectors Room, Berlin.

Stevenson’s works are held in the Olbricht Collection, the Maramotti (Maxmara) Collection, and the Kraft Collection, as well as in numerous private collections internationally. Her work has been featured in print and online publications including Ateliers d’Art, Colossal, and Hi Fructose.

Rebecca Stevenson lives and works in London.

You can view Rebecca’s work at www.rebeccastevenson.net www.instagram.com/rebeccastevensonsculpture

Photos by Marianne Wie www.mariannewie.net www.instagram.com/marianne_wie