OMAA To Present a Solo Exhibition of Paintings by Rebecca Ness, On View April 23 – July 15, 2027
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) will present a solo exhibition of paintings by Rebecca Ness (b. 1992), on view April 23 through July 15, 2027. This early-career survey—the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States—explores paintings by Ness spanning the past five years as well as new work reflecting the most current developments in her practice.
Rebecca Ness’s paintings draw on the intimate textures of daily life, transforming scenes from her immediate surroundings into quiet studies of attention, memory, and connection. Her compositions emerge from careful observation—moments in the studio, time with friends and loved ones, and the rhythms of domestic spaces that came into sharper focus during periods of social isolation.
The exhibition is organized around four interrelated themes:
- the studio as allegory
- the archive—both personal and historical
- nature and contemplation
- queer spaces and community building
Together, these frameworks situate Ness’s deeply personal imagery within broader reflections on community, belonging, and the ways environments shape experience.
“Ness is an extraordinary painter whose work speaks powerfully to the present moment. At a time when so much of our lives is mediated through virtual experience, her paintings return us to the materiality and quiet poetry of everyday life. Her reflections on art history, artistic labor, queer experience, and the ways communities are built and sustained resonate deeply with the OMAA’s own history, mission, and enduring sense of place,” explains Devon Zimmerman, OMAA’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Says Ness, “I am incredibly excited about the upcoming survey exhibition of my work at the Ogunquit Museum of Art. As a born New Englander, it’s so exciting for my first museum show to have a ‘homecoming’ of sorts, and for all of these works to be shown together for the first time. I’m grateful to Devon Zimmerman and the OMAA team, to the writers of the monograph, and to the lenders.”
Throughout her work, Ness returns to objects that gather meaning through familiarity and use: stacks of books, belongings stored in a family basement, or small groupings of cherished possessions. Her fascination with the emotional value attached to everyday things—and their role in constructing and defining identity, community, and space—guides her painterly reconstructions of contemporary material culture.
Labels, logos, cover designs, decorative patterns, and signs of wear are rendered with meticulous care, while their careful arrangement echoes the logic of both personal collections and archives. What might initially appear as humble artifacts of American life gradually reveal layered narratives, transforming these scenes into unconventional still lifes that document the present while quietly reflecting on how meaning is preserved and shared.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Rebecca Ness (b. 1992, Salem, MA, lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) received her MFA from the Yale School of Art and her BFA from Boston University. Major examples of the artist’s work are held in the collections of Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; SFMoMA, San Francisco; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria; Long Museum, Shanghai, China; Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana; Zuzeum Art Centre, Rīga, Latvia; JP Morgan Chase Art Collection. Paintings by the artist have also recently been included in exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, GA, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, and the Akron Art Museum in OH.
PUBLICATION
A monograph of Rebecca Ness will be published in April 2027 in partnership with Monacelli Press. The largest survey of the artist’s work in print, the book will include contributions from Devon Zimmerman, independent curator Mark Godfrey, and author Sarah L. Thornton.
RELATED EXHIBITION
Opening September 10, 2026, Morgan Presents (537 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001) will host Rebecca Ness: Inheritance, an exhibition of new work by Rebecca Ness with text penned by Cat Dawson, on view through October 20, 2026. This will be the gallery’s third exhibition with the artist.
There will be a talk between OMAA Curator Devon Zimmerman and artist Rebecca Ness on Wednesday, September 23, at 5pm at the gallery.
ABOUT THE OGUNQUIT MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART (OMAA)
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) presents thought-provoking exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, and engaging education and community programs. The Museum’s seaside landscape and three-acre sculpture park offer a sense of place and a destination for experiencing art and nature, with stunning panoramic views of Maine’s iconic coves and outcroppings.
Founded by a community of artists and supporters, led by Henry Strater (1896-1987), and opened in 1953, OMAA celebrates its ties to one of America’s earliest art communities which directly contributed to the roots of modernism in the United States. OMAA’s collection includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and photographs from the late 1800s to the present.
Led by Executive Director David Cunningham and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Devon Zimmerman, OMAA is open for the 2026 season from April 10 through November 1. For more information, visit ogunquitmuseum.org.
Media Contact: Meg Blackburn, meg@blackburncreative.com
