Rebecca Moses and Cindy Allen Chat via Instagram Live
Welcome to the fifth week of the newly named Cindy Chats. Each weekday, Interior Design Editor in Chief Cindy Allen interviews a good friend in the design industry via Instagram Live at 2 p.m. EST. Today, Rebecca Moses—artist, fashion designer, and illustrator—joined from New York City. “We all just gotta [sic] roll up our sleeves and do what we need to do.”
Having lived in Italy for 20 years, specifically northwest of Milan, Moses has many close friends and family still in the country and so the pandemic hit close to home figuratively sooner than it did literally. The notable Salone Del Mobile.Milano furniture fair in Milan would have been happening right now, and the two women are certainly longing to be with their Italian brethren. Nonetheless, “I am a stay home girl” Moses declared, noting that she is painstakingly avoiding Central Park a block away from her apartment. Her home studio features a gorgeous greenhouse skylight and wall—special elements that continues to inspire creativity and productivity.
Wanting to go back to the concept of classic portraiture, Moses’ exhibition at Salone last year, White Shirt, depicted a collection of portraits featuring women all in white shirts. It is one of Moses’ collaborations with Ralph Pucci, another being a beautiful hand-painted bench that Allen displayed on screen. The Ralph Pucci Gallery Nine, and the man behind it, are favorites of both Allen and Moses.
Allen pulled images from Moses’s STAY HOME campaign, an illustrative series full of character and life. The impetus to start this creative project began as soon as Moses went into quarantine and all of her projects went through—”finito!”—and she still needed to work on a daily basis. Cut to Moses having created a global network of women who have become subjects of her new painting venture, a series that has become a fan favorite within the art and design industry on Instagram. Each painting is one-of-a-kind and truly evokes the personality that inspired the painting and, prompted by Allen, Moses brought the characters to life.
“This is a small ask compared to what our forefathers had to endure,” Moses said while pondering this historical moment with Allen. “I think we have to use this time to shut out the noise and…think about what we can improve in the world,” Moses continued. Urging everyone to be compassionate, creative, and tough Moses said that “if we want to make the glass half full, I think we want to look at ourselves.”
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