Rex Southwick
The Scripps Gill Loggia, 2023
7905 Herschel Avenue
Rex Southwick’s mural, The Scripps Gill Loggia, showcases the legacy of renowned Southern California architect Irving Gill and the historical home of the prominent philanthropist and journalist Ellen Browning Scripps, a site that later became part of the original Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. A celebration of local history and philanthropy, Southwick’s painterly style and vibrant composition simultaneously weave together the connection between architecture and horticulture and the relationship between Scripps and Gill. The contribution of Gill’s notable architectural style and Scripps’s generous philanthropy helped to create the foundational character of present-day La Jolla.
The mural’s composition is dominated by a signature Gill arch, acting as both a reference to Gill’s trademark style and as a compositional device to invite the viewer into the space. Conceptually, the arch also acts as a threshold between past and present narratives of this historic site. The mural also has a strong visual reference to pairs—two workers, two palms, and two shadows—a nod to the collaboration of Gill and Scripps. The elegant synthesis of scale, composition, and historical site specificity creates a dynamic visual scape that is both grand and imposing yet fundamentally inviting.
Southwick’s painting practice weaves together the traditions of oil painting that echo the historicity of a site with contemporary innovation and a critical perspective. His highly saturated, large-scale paintings teeter on the precipice of two opposing worlds, the elite and the working class, highlighting the labor that is required to maintain the pristine environments of wealth and privilege. By directly immersing himself alongside the workforce that sustains the affluent communities he depicts in his paintings, he constructs real-time observations of the hierarchical social, economic, and political structures that reinforce these inequitable systems. Following the path of other iconic British painters, Southwick confronts the landscapes of Southern California with a fresh and distinct sensibility, opening new points of observation of this often-idealized landscape.
Southwick was born in 1997 in England. He received a BFA from Leeds Art University in 2018 and lives and works in London. Southwick’s work has been featured in many notable institutions, including Unit London, a contemporary art gallery and platform in Mayfair; the Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv; Centre of International Contemporary Art Vancouver; and Taipei World Trade Centre. He received the Aon Community Art Award given to graduating artists from three British universities. He participated in a residency with the Palm Springs Art Museum in 2023, and his work is held in noteworthy private collections.
44' 1" x 43' 9"
Wall Sponsors: Paul Jacobs and Geneviève Tremblay Jacobs