"I want to be inside your home!" I've known Rebecca for a couple of years, except tonight it's abundantly clear to me that the story she's just shared of events that occured in her past, add such a depth to the art she's working to create at this moment that I see her work in a whole new light. When one moment quickly changes into the next, it's our pasts that are the ghosts that haunt our perspectives in the present. And hers is a tale of vision to the brink of insanity, and disillusionment into acceptance. I made the trip out to Jersey City to have dinner with her at the local Cuban restaurant and do something I haven't done with her before; talk shop. I asked her... Heather: What do you think influenced you to become an artist? Rebecca: Well, I have a typical artist story. When I was a kid I wanted to be in the city. I wanted to be around something greater than what I was surrounded by. My parents were supportive though. I remember they gave me an eight foot mound of dirt and said, 'Do something with it.' And I sculpted it into something. Now I'm remembering my senior year of high school when I spent the year in Paris. My host mother, who was sixty years old and a painter, noticed that I didn't get out much. She kept telling me to 'Live; have an adventure.' So one day I was roaming around Paris, and I ran into these English guys who were buskers. They were playing in front of the Georges Pompidou Centre. I introduced myself, and the next thing I knew I was passing the hat collecting money from the crowd. There was also this accomplished flutist who was a guest for a couple of weeks. And my host mother encouraged me to sketch him whenever he practiced; and he would practice eight hours a day. He would play and I would sketch. It really taught me about discipline. That's when I learned about artistic collaboration, and practicing my craft. H: Where do you pull your inspiration from? R: I'm influenced by music, mostly female singers. I like Bjork, PJ Harvey...I like women who have something to say. H: Tell me about what shaped your point of view artistically. R: It's turning the bad things that shape you into something positive. We learn to construct our lives from when we experience strife. The light shining forward for me was when I was going downhill, but I had a beautiful dream. The dream Rebecca speaks of is when she was attending the Rhode Island School of Design. And of one night when she snuck into the student's studio, and was whirled into a vision of painting the words "Pretend you are in paradise" on the wall, proceeding to make additions to other student's paintings, and creating a shrine of art in the center of the room of one student's work she admired. Another student painted a mitten, and in the corner Rebecca wrote 'Hit Me.' Barefoot and covered in paint, she was so enveloped in this insanity and obsession with the art that she didn't know why she was doing it. It was a compulsion beyond words, and her actions became a dream sequence of which even Alfred Hitchcock would be envious. She heard the security guard and ran out with no shoes into the snowy streets. Not knowing where to go and with reality sinking in about the consequences of her actions, she went to a friends house who gave her some shoes. She kept repeating "The women would understand." And then she ran. "I was going to be whisked away in a silver metal ambulance by a caravan of my best artist friends to New York City to have my first one woman show at Ron Feldman Gallery... I was having the art world baby; the whole male side of the painting department was the father and all of what we were as artists would be synthesized in this organic creation." (Excerpt from the audio track in 'Pretend You Art In Paradise.') This is a story from her past. About the descent of an artist's mind, and taking the long road of mental fragmentation to rebuilding and communicating it through her work. R: They ascribe miracles to strange things that happen to women. We become saints. We've been perceived as hysterical, thus the term hysterectomy, and crazy. But women take on this burden of all other people. H: I've noticed that a lot of the themes you utilize in your artwork is about birthing and sexuality. R: Yeah, totally. The sexuality in my past work is more explicit. My work is more sensual now. I feel a lightness, myself touching and doing the work, it's romantic. My early twenties was about partying and being wild, I've gotten more sensual. H: How do you think people are going to perceive this show? R: It's like having a secret for so long and then you just have to see what people think. We'll see. H: How do you want people to see your art? R: I'm suggesting. I use different things and mediums to invite people to participate. H: What compels you? R: To show my work means to complete the work. The work I do is not complete unless I communicate it to an audience. I see what I do as pretty simply trying to help people to see themselves. Trying different ways to touch them, to give them an experience. I want to take them on a journey, and for me that has to have variety. It can be humorous, or it can be serious. The gallery structure is so elitist, it doesn't involve the audience. Foreign countries integrate art into their lives more; even the poorest people have paintings and art in their homes. In America, we don't want to consume art; we consume things. I'm interested in doing art about people for people. In contemporary art I've seen work that is edgy to the point of being ugly in an effort to look meaningful. I would rather make beautiful things that are infused with imagination. I want to seduce you. There's always a flirtation and I'm going to tickle you one way or another. I feel free to give myself a wide range of ways that I'm going to tickle you. Rebecca Goyette Gallery Rebecca's Resume Rebecca Goyette Store If you would like to communicate with Rebecca click here