Since we first engaged with Rebecca Ness during her time at Yale, it was clear she perceived the world from a unique angle, developing a density in realistic paintings, looking at friends and peers with a maximal and virtuoso command of canvas. Close-ups of hands and overhead views of desks and bodies displayed keen-eyed examinations of daily life. Over the past few years, Ness’ lens has zoomed out, with social environments taking focus, whether friends’ studios and homes, her own domestic space, or other places we occupy in our personal lives. Though realistic in style, fantasy inhabits each work, creating a place that is solidly familiar but imbued with a visionary utopia.