Female Trouble

Our inaugural exhibition at Cross Lane Projects brings female subjectivity to the fore; drawing together lithographs and etchings by Dame Paula Rego with a new body of paintings by Rebecca Scott, it offers a dialogue between these two female artists of different generations.

Vanya Balogh, the curator, comments that the inaugural exhibition Female Trouble “draws us gently into the feminine narratives of dispute and subversion, historically present and visible in the works of both artists. Paula Rego is represented with a series of incredible etchings crafted and produced in collaboration with Paupers Press whilst Rebecca Scott is daring us with a set of oil paintings recently produced in the introspective quietness of her studio in Cumbria. Both artists bravely thread on the ambivalent ground of fear, instinct, eroticism and seduction whilst exposing a hidden world of secret lies and veiled truths.”

Rego’s work is known for revealing complex stories about the sinister side of sexuality, and her feminism underlies everything she does. Scott’s paintings re-examine public images of women, taking source images from glossy magazines and overwriting or ‘defacing’ these, they aim to expose the hypocrisies of our so-called sexual freedom.

Dame Paula Rego, DBE (born 1935, Portugal), is a visual artist particularly known for her paintings and prints based on storybooks. Her work often reflects feminism, coloured by folk-themes from her native Portugal.

Rego studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and was an exhibiting member of the London Group. She was the first artist-in-residence at the National Gallery in London and has a museum of her work, Casa das Histórias, in Portugal. She lives and works in London. Paula Rego is represented by Marlborough Gallery.

Rebecca Scott, (born 1960, Cumbria), is a British painter. She came to prominence in the late 1980s and is known for her issue-based figurative paintings. Her recurring theme is the exploration of female desire and its representation in contemporary culture and the mainstream psyche. Scott studied at Chelsea School of Art and Goldsmiths College. She lives and works in Cumbria and London.

Paula Rego lithographs and etchings from the collection of Paupers Press.

Female Trouble is co-curated by Vanya Balogh and Rebecca Scott.