Rebecca Rebouché

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Dear Taylor

You don’t know me, but I feel like I know you (just like most girls across the world probably do.) I’m sure there are plenty of people who I don’t know, who feel like they know me through my artwork. So this is some little tiny thing we have in common, right? 

Such is the nature of things when you create something that rings universally true and touches people’s lives. You become the torch-bearer of that truth. If you are reading this I will assume that you’ve gotten wind of my collection of paintings inspired by your album and named after your songs. I’m not even sure if I can legally do this!? - call a body of work, in a different medium, the same name as your album, which is also the number that refers to a collection of 365 days in our planetary and human history. But apparently none of the three lawyers I consulted on the matter knew either, as they quit returning my emails. I assume they didn’t want to give the wrong counsel and thought it best to give none at all. Either that or just the mention of a name as big as yours sends debilitating fear down the spines of legal folk. Luckily I am not legal folk, and feel optimistic enough to proceed in good faith, or else these paintings might never see the light of day. (Or they will, under pseudonyms, like ninja paintings in the night, hiding their true origin.)

But seriously Taylor, if you don’t want me to call this body of work 1989, just tell me, and I’ll change it, (and please don’t send scary lawyers to take all the money I don’t have.) I say all this with the utmost respect and gratitude - which, if I tried to accurately express in words, would still come up embarrassingly short of how I feel, (but it might look something like a video of a rabbit hugging a cat.)

You came into our lives. Your songs became a part of our lives. And these paintings came into my head because of those songs. I hope that this artwork can become a part of people’s lives in a way that continues to tell the story of a young woman who embraces change, searches for love but doesn’t fall apart without it, and welcomes others to join her on that journey. This is your story, and it’s my story, and it’s the story of so many others in overlapping yet different ways. 

I want to thank you for your music, for being brave and bold in sharing your gifts, and for being the type of person who not only breaks a mold, but empowers others to break free from any chains that hold them back, keep them small and scared, and rob this world of all this light. 

Oh how I hope you can feel happy and honored by my attempt to turn your stories into my visual allegories. But in the least, I hope you don’t feel cheated or offended. My intentions are pure. My motivations are noble. And I am deeply humbled to stand in your light. 

Love,
Rebecca Rebouche

ps- If you want to come over for coffee and see the paintings in person, you are SO invited. :) @taylorswift 

Here’s the link to view online. I’m releasing them one by one over a period of months, like singles. Started with This Love
and I hope to have a show in New York at the end. 

Notes

  1. upintheshair reblogged this from honlie and added:
    AGAIN…these amazing women - interconnected…I have no words.
  2. honlie reblogged this from rebeccarebouche and added:
    I stand by you throughout this journey @rebeccarebouche. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being brave enough to share...
  3. rebeccarebouche posted this