Rebecca Anweiler

Much of Anweiler’s work is done in a photo-realistic style, or “soft photo-realism” as termed by the contemporary artist Jon Davies because Anweiler’s style “evokes not simulates her source photos,”  which she derives from encyclopedias and textbooks produced through the 1950s.

Many of her earlier works are grisailles, which David Jager compares to the artist Mark Tansey’s style.

Anweiler’s style emphasizes the inherent symbolism in everyday imagery through the reproduction of these images.

Through reproduction Anweiler calls attention to how social norms of the past continue to be recreated in the present.

Anweiler’s background in science and education are key influences in her artistic practice.

Anweiler uses her artistic practice as a form of critique for Western science and colonialism, calling into question how inflexible mainstream scientific institutions are in terms of inexplicable phenomena often attributed to the supernatural.

Anweiler holds these themes in relation to her concerns around the climate crisis.

As seen in Anweiler’s exhibition I Wish You Were Here, wherein Anweiler painted a series of picturesque Canadian landscapes, she critically omits the infrastructure of the resource extraction industry which characterize many of those scenes today.

Anweiler’s work also seeks to investigate how understandings of human sexuality and sexual orientation emerge in scientific discourses around biological determinism and the natural world.

Anweiler calls to attention how sexism, racism, and heteronormativity simultaneously structure the production of scientific knowledge around human biology and social mores around sex.

Seen in the exhibition Sexual/Nature, Anweiler interrogates how the “normal” is constructed for sexuality.

Specifically selecting images from educational sources, Anweiler’s work observes that images of the “natural” or “normal” are highly constructed to convey specific meanings around what is acceptable, such as the nuclear family, and what is made to be taboo, such as homosexuality.

Passing Through is a collection of small oil on linen paintings, grouped in series.

Rebecca Anweiler (born September 11, 1959) is a contemporary Canadian visual artist based in Kingston, Ontario.

Rebecca Anweiler was born in Hamilton, Ontario on September 11, 1959.

Anweiler attended the University of Guelph for a Bachelor’s of Science.

Studying biology, she did not originally study painting, but topics of biology, gender and sexuality that stem from this degree are common themes in her artistic practice.

She then moved to Toronto to attend the University of Toronto.

She received a Master of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in 1994.

Anweiler then attended the Ontario College of Art and Design (now OCAD University), where she received an Associates Degree in drawing and painting in 1997.

She has been exhibiting works in oil painting, new media and video since 2000.

She has taught at Queen’s University at Kingston for 15 years.

Most notably her works are in the collections of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, the City of Toronto, and the University of Lethbridge.

Specializing in painting, she later attended Concordia University in 2000 for her Masters of Fine Art.

While attending Anweiler was awarded J. W. McConnell Memorial Fellowship.

I Wish You Were Here, shown in 2012, is Anweiler’s second exhibition at the David Kaye Gallery.

In this series Anweiler painted a set of 24 idyllic landscapes of Canadian wilderness reminiscent of the iconic landscapes produced by historic Canadian painters, the Group of Seven.

This exhibit was at the David Kaye Gallery in April of 2017.

Each image is blurry with movement, with cool blues, greens and greys dominating the frame as highlights of orange add interest to certain frames in the series.

Anweiler does not fill the frame  with her images, allowing the unprimed linen to act like an impromptu frame.

The content is derived from a visit to St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Each painting is based on a still photograph taken from inside their vehicle: the landscape is blurred by the motion of their car.

While Anweiler is referencing the speed at which contemporary lives move, in how with cars and technology we have access to places and information at a rapid rate, she also chose to represent these views to reflect her personal experience of travelling by car.

She is also presenting the audience with the view that her sister, who is in a wheelchair, could access, as they spent the majority of the trip inside their car.

The content continues Anweiler’s interest in nature imagery combined with social justice themes.

In 2017 Anweiler held a solo show at Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre in Kingston, Ontario titled Animal/Séance.

The show explored animal intelligence, telepathic communication and spirituality through a photo installation, a video work and an interactive computer program in Modern Fuel’s State of Flux gallery, which is a space designed for locally-based emerging or mid-career artists to show their work.

This show contained an “experiment,” about the potential psychic connection between the dead pets chosen for the show and gallery goers.

This experiment led participants to spiritually connect with one of the animals, which were deceased pets from the Kingston area, and then measure their connection objectively through the program’s database of information about each pet.

The goal of the experiment was to observe whether participants truly did communicate with the spirits of the deceased animals by how much information they knew about the animal.