“Smoochie” 

Rachel Hobkirk

Signed unique work

Oil paint on linen canvas

30 x 40 cm

Edition 1 of 1

Rachel Hobkirk (b.1995) received her degree from Glasgow School of Art in 2017 and is currently in her final year at the Royal Academy Schools. Her Dolls series explores the artist's desire to recall objects from her adolescence and visit their embedded memories. Using the childrens toy as a surrogate for the artist, Hobkirk reflects on the objectification of woman and the means of expression promoted under vigilance. The hollow facade of a replica baby in turn replicates a vacant sense of identity in the search for the self. This painting depicts a doll's polished face filling the entirety of the canvas; if not for the hint of neglect in the half shut eye the doll would be flawless. This near perfection lands the recognizably human features in the valley of the uncanny. Designed to be endearing at scale, this series of enlarged paintings breaks down the life-like illusion, instead putting forward a psychological contradiction: the human psyche is both drawn toward and away from the barely inhuman.

Rachel Hobkirk has shown in solo exhibitions and group shows across Europe, recent exhibitions include: ‘GLOSS’, TICK TACK, Antwerp (2022), ‘There Goes the Neighbourhood’, Castor Gallery, London (2022), ’Moonstruck Noon’, Linseed Projects, Shanghai (2022), ‘Summer Fling’, L.U.P.O. - Lorenzelli Projects, Milan (2022), ’Brick Games’, L21 Gallery, Spain (2022), ‘Colour, Culture, Feelings’, Ojiri Gallery, London (2022), ’Premiums Interim 1’, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2022), ’Interim Show! Royal Academy of the Arts, London (2021), 'Eating Sugar? No Papa!', and L21 Gallery, Palma (2021). In 2022, she was awarded the Peter Rippon Travel Award.