Rex Southwick
B.1997 Based in London, UK
Introduction
Rex Southwick’s artworks confront the idealised imagery of luxury domestic environments, which are often widely shared online as the ultimate aspiration for modern generations. The artist’s large canvases reveal the real process behind the creation of these seemingly perfect homes. Southwick uses the same bright pink ground colour for all his paintings, which gives them their saturated quality, with their vibrant colours offsetting their seemingly unremarkable subject matter.
Education
2018
BA, Fine Art, Leeds Arts University, Leeds, UK
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Topia, Unit, London, UK
2020
Purple Lands, Unit, London, UK
2019
Querencia, Unit, London, UK
Group Exhibitions
2022
Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv, Israel
Art Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Playground of Geometry, Centre of International Contemporary Art Vancouver (CICA), Vancouver, Canada
2021
Art Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Rites of Passage, Unit, London, UK
2020
Drawn Together (online), Unit, London, UK
2019
Young contemporaries, Aubergine Gallery, London, UK
HSBC, private bank in collaboration with Auc Art, London, UK
London Fashion week, Old Truman Brewery, London, UK
2018
Rising stars 2018, Coombe gallery, Devon, UK
AON Community Art Award, Leadenhall Building, London, UK
PURPLE LANDS, Sloane Square, London, UK
Free Range, The Old Truman Brewery, London, UK
SYZYGY, Leeds Arts University, Leeds, UK
Mine Yours, Leeds, UK
2017
Swetshop III, Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, UK
Untitled Entitled, Smith Street Gallery, London, UK
Y tho, Brunswick Court, Leeds, UK
2016
CMYK, Regents Street, Leeds, UK
2015
I’ll Show You Mine, Leeds, UK
Residencies
2024 Dragon Hill, Mouans-Sartoux, France
2023 Palm Springs Art Museum, CA, USA
2022 Vista Las Palmas Residency, CA, USA
2021 Vista Las Palmas Residency, CA, USA
Selected Press
2023
June ‘The Artsy Advisor Notebook: June 2023’, Artsy
2022
February ‘Querencia’ by Artist Rex Southwick’, Booooooom
‘Rex Southwick’s paintings reveal the “invisible workforce” that build our most desirable homes’, It’s Nice That
2020
August ‘The Top 5 Painting Exhibitions to see in London this Summer’, FAD Magazine
‘Rex Southwick born into the purple’, FAD Magazine
2019
July ‘Rex Southwick’s highly saturated, hyperreal paintings explore the reality behind creating a ‘perfect’ life’, Creative Boom
‘The Paintings of Rex Southwick Comment on the Idealised Realities of Modern Life,’ Plain Magazine
‘Unit London exhibition: Americana Incarnate meets Hagler’s horrors’, Fault Magazine
‘False Idols’, Cent Magazine
‘Rex Southwick makes his first exhibition ‘Querencia’ at Unit London’, Collater.al Magazine
‘Rex Southwick Deconstructs Instagram’s Idealised Realities in ‘Querencia’ Exhibition’, Hypebeast
2018
June ‘Students’ end-of-year artwork 2018’, The Guardian
‘Rex Southwick’, Nest Magazine
Selected Collections
Azman Museum, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Frank-Suss Collection, London, UK
Moore Family Collection, Randburg, South Africa
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), CA, USA
Palm Springs Art Museum, CA, USA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami), FL, USA
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, USA