Rebecca Bird
My paintings often seem like a collaboration with a garden or city- I document food scraps in paint before they become compost, vegetables growing from the compost, objects I find on the sidewalk. Artifacts of biological and synthetic origin coexist, and I feel part of this ecosystem. These objects have in common imperfection, incompleteness and ambiguity. I am spurred on by processes of decay to record life as it changes. Most of all I hope to capture light.
Last Year's Fire | 2024 | oil and acrylic on canvas | 39 x 54 inches | 10,000USD
Shadow Boxing No. 2 | 2026 | Watercolor and oil on wood | 5 x 7 inches | 600USD
Chris | Pitsiokos | Quartet at 7Belvidere | OilOnWood | 5x7 | 2020 | 600USD
She-clowns run amok | 2020 | oil, ink and pencil on wood panel | 5x7 inches | 600USD
Johanna at Flowers | 2020 | oil, ink and pencil on wood panel | 5x7 inches | 600USD
Ragtime Duel | 2020 | oil, ink and pencil on wood panel | 5x7 inches | 600USD
Omer Gal at 7 Belvidere | Oil on wood | 5 x 7 | 2020 | 600USD
Ambergris at the Knitting Factory | 2020 | oil, ink and photo transfer on wood panel | 5x7 inches | 600USD (SOLD)
Victorian Namesake | 2026 | Watercolor and oil on wood | 4 x 4 7/8 | 500USD with frame (SOLD)
Shadow Boxing | 2026 | Watercolor and oil on wood | 3 1/2 x 5 inches | 500USD with frame (SOLD)
Education
Fulbright Fellowship in Painting, Kanazawa College of Art (2000)
BFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (2000)
Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art, Norfolk, CA (1999)
Public Artworks
Cycle: Animation for Video Wall, SeaTac International Airport, Seattle, WA (2026, upcoming) — 20-min hand-painted animation, permanent installation
Five Women & Niche Communication, SeaTac International Airport, Seattle, WA (2023) — two permanent paintings
Tomato Mouse Emoji Mosaic, Tomato Mouse, Brooklyn, NY (2020)
Intent & Assembly, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, WA (2019) — 15 × 91 ft site-specific painting, permanent
Escape, Gulliver’s Gate, New York, NY (2017) — 220-ft interior mural
Solo Exhibitions
You Are Home, Gallery Kooy, Brooklyn, NY (2025)
Dull Roar, Studio 326, New York, NY (2023)
Plan B Pop-Up, David Zwirner (2019)
Circles, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2019)
Women, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2017)
Transparent Eyeball, Russell Day Gallery, Everett, WA
Animations, Voookhyang, Seoul, South Korea (2016)
Symmetry, William Holman Gallery, New York, NY (2015)
Niagara Falls, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Interiors, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2011)
Everything That Ever Existed Still Exists, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2009)
Selected Group Exhibitions & Art Fairs
One Art Taipei, YiArt Gallery, Taipei (2026)
Future Fair, New York, NY (2024)
Fallow Frames Biennial, Ridgewood, NY (2024)
Spring/Break Art Fair, New York, NY (multiple years)
True Stories, The Untitled Space, New York, NY
Contact, Radiator Gallery (NY) / Structura Gallery (Sofia)
The Third Bronx Biennial, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY
Art on Paper, New York, NY
Slick Art Fair, Paris, FR
ORGANIX, Venice, IT
You and Me, Beijing, CN
Collections
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Microsoft Collection
Fidelity Investments Corporate Collection
Lower East Side Printshop (Permanent Collection)
Capital Group Foundation
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
Awards & Residencies
Medical Emergency Grant, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (2026)
Individual Support Grant, Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation (2023)
Community Arts Grant, Brooklyn Arts Council (2013, 2014, 2019, 2021, 2024)
City Artist Corps Grant, New York, NY (2021)
AIM Program, The Bronx Museum (2015)
Chenven Award, Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation (2014)
Grant, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Change, Inc. (2013)
Grant, Max's Kansas City Foundation (2013)
Residency, Vermont Studio Center (2013)
Keyholder Residency, Lower East Side Printshop (2012)
Special Commission, Triple Canopy (2012)