The Southampton Arts Center presents Rebecca Moses as its new artist-in-residence. For one week — August 24 to 31 — Moses transforms Southampton Arts Center into “The Art of Observation,” part exhibition, part working studio, part performance, and part conversation.
At its center is the debut of “I Think You Are Beautiful When You Are Bored,” an exhibition of eleven new portraits of women dressed predominantly in black. Through unexpected jewelry, eyewear, cigarettes, gestures, and glances, each reveals a distinctive attitude: elegant, defiant, amused, detached, provocative, mysterious, or simply bored.
The title asks a provocative question: Are we sometimes most compelling when we stop trying to be seen?
Throughout the week, Moses will paint in public, opening up a creative process normally experienced only through its finished result. Visitors become part of an intimate exchange: the audience observes the artist, the artist observes the world around her, and observation becomes creation.
For Rebecca Moses, observation is not simply the act of looking. It is where the creative process begins.
Moses is an ever-evolving creative force whose artful vision has made her a fashion powerhouse in the U.S. and Europe. One of the first American designers to enter the European market in the 1990s, she modernized Italian ready-to-wear house Genny, reimagined cashmere through her namesake label, and transformed heritage stationer Pineider into a lifestyle brand.
A royal portrait artist, she has been commissioned by Italian Vogue, Vogue Japan, Marie Claire Italia, MAC Cosmetics, Fratelli Rossetti, Panerai, Kartell, Alcantara, Vera Wang, and more. Her first book, “A Life of Style,” published by Monacelli Press, showcases her distinctive creative vision and inspired Ralph Pucci to commission a collection of mannequins based on her signature illustrated women. Moses has exhibited in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Milan, and Tokyo and is represented by Ralph Pucci International in New York and Nilufar in Milan.
The experience will also include a public conversation on Friday, August 28, at 5:30 PM between Moses, her longtime gallerist Ralph Pucci, and interviewer Stefano Tonchi, founder of Palmer Magazine, exploring the intersection of art, fashion, design, storytelling, and a creative life continually moving forward.