Rachel Burgess creates autobiographical landscapes and domestic scenes inspired by New England, where she grew up, and New York City, where she lives now. Combining elements of illustration, folk art and oil painting, she explores the way we transform everyday life into narrative. Drawn to the accessible, democratic nature of printmaking she works primarily in monotype, straddling the divide between popular and elite forms of storytelling.
Recent exhibitions include Ortega y Gasset Projects, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art and the International Print Center of New York. Originally from Brookline, MA, Burgess lives and works in New York City.
(photography: Aiko Austin)
b. 1982, Boston, MA
Lives and works in New York, NY
EDUCATION
2007
MFA, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2004
BA, Yale University, New Haven, CT
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Simple Gifts, Susan Eley Fine Art, Hudson, NY
2023
Deli Flowers My Husband Bought Me, Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, NY
2020
50 Views of the Piscataqua, 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH
2017
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Pictures, University of Connecticut, Stamford, CT
2014
This Must Be the Place, FOLK, Kittery, ME
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Address to the Moon, Gallery NAGA , Boston, MA (curated by Powell Fine Art Advisory)
Contemporary Landscape, Bernay Fine Art, Great Barrington, MA
2023
As the Light Wanes, PILLAR Gallery & Projects, Concord, NH
Tightly Knit, Loose Fit, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Debora Faccion-Grodzki and Sarah Arriagada)
Collector’s Edition, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA
2022
Ingrained, Susan Eley Fine Art, Hudson, NY (two-person show)
To Knead a Knot, Lower East Side Printshop, New York, NY (curated by Jesse Bandler Firestone)
Ebb & Flow, George Marshall Store Gallery, York, ME (two-person show)
The Fierce Urgency of Now, Janet Turner Print Museum, Chico, CA
2021
Minted, Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C.
WHO WHAT WHERE, George Marshall Store Gallery, York, ME
Mapping Narratives: New Prints, International Print Center of New York, New York, NY
2020
Making a Way, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN (online show)
2019
Published by the Artist, International Print Center of New York, New York, NY
A Sense of Place, Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, NY (two-person show)
ARTPM, Buoy Gallery, Kittery, ME
2018
Taproot, George Marshall Store Gallery, York, ME
5th Floor, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2017
In the Meeting of Rock and Sea, Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, NY (two-person show)
2015
Life is More Than, Openhouse, New York, NY
FLUID 2015, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY
Locally Sourced, American University Museum, Washington, D.C.
2014
Made in New York/Made in Seoul, Korea Society, New York, NY and Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Drowning in a Sea of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Obsolescence, Curious Matter, Jersey City, NJ
Here by the Sea: Contemporary Art of the Piscataqua, Sarah Orne Jewett Museum, South Berwick, ME
2013
Spring Show, Recession Art, Brooklyn, NY
Enormous Tiny Art #14, Nahcotta, Portsmouth, NH
Pistol Packing Print!, EMOA Gallery, New York, NY
2012
Calicornucopia, Calico Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
Small Works, Brooklyn Artists Gym, Brooklyn, NY
2011
Carrier Pigeon Magazine, 20|20 Gallery, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
Visions in Print, Allegra LaViola Gallery, New York, NY
2010
Works on Paper, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hyperallergic, “8 Shows to See in Upstate New York This August”, Thomas, Taliesin, July 31, 2024
Art New England, “News From the Gallery Scene”, Duke, Autumn, January/February issue, 2024
Artist Praxis podcast interview, Nov 8, 2022
I Like Your Work podcast, Studio Visit Artist interview, March 3, 2022
Janet Turner Print Museum, The Fierce Urgency of Now: Socially Engaged Printmaking catalog, 2022
The Boston Globe, “What’s Happening (Digitally) in the Arts World: 50 Views of the Piscataqua”, McQuaid, Cate, August 6, 2020
Introspective Magazine, "13 Ways of Looking at an Artwork This Season", Mendelssohn, Meredith, September 25, 2017
The New York Times, "A Soothing Skyline and a Weimaraner, 'The Most Architectural of Dogs'", Loos, Ted, March 9, 2017
Drawing Magazine, “New and Notable” feature, Winter issue, 2015
Black Book, "Fresh New Way to Collect Art - The CoOp Gallery", Grumbach, Matthew, August 28, 2014
Curious Matter, Obsolescence catalog, 2014
Korea Society/Seoul Museum of Art, Made in New York/Made in Korea catalog, 2014
Carrier Pigeon Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2011
3x3 Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, Issue 5, 2009
Society of Illustrators Annual, No. 51, 2009
CMYK, Issue 37, 2007
RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
2021
Artist Development Program Award, International Print Center of New York
2016
Artist residency, Zea Mays Printmaking
2014
Artist residency, Acadia National Park
2006
MFA Illustration scholarship award, School of Visual Arts
2004
Alvin B. Kernan Award, Yale University
COLLECTIONS
Boston Children’s Hospital
Capital One
CityMD
Fidelity
Memorial Sloan Kettering
Montefiore Medical Center
NYU Langone
University of Connecticut
TALKS/TEACHING
2022
Artist talk, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2020
Artist talk, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2018
Artist talk, Pratt Institute, New York, NY
2014
Artist talk, Acadia National Park, ME
2013
Guest lecture, School of Visual Arts
Guest lecture, Queens College, Queens, NY
2010
Adjunct Professor, Iona College, New Rochelle, NY