Barbara Rachko Biography

New York-based Barbara Rachko, a former pilot and Naval officer, is an exceptional emerging artist, employing a unique blend of fantasy and cultural icons in her pastel creations.

In the words of the artist: '(My artwork) uses cultural objects - Mexican masks, carved wooden animals, papier mache figures, and Childrens' toys - in a lively blend of reality and fantasy. I use these objects not only as Surrogates for human actors, but as potent symbols: an amalgam of childhood memories, Half-forgotten dreams, and images encountered in magic realist literature, Meso-American Mythology, trips to central and southern Mexico, and films (especially those by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, and classic science fiction movies from the 50's and 60's). The imagery comes out of my own experience and although very personal , is rich in Universal associations.

 

It is my intent to create a painting that is more exciting, colorful, animated, and real- seeming than the photograph. Consequently, each pastel painting is unique work of art with considerable interpretative development.'

A Selected list of her solo exhibitions is as follows:

2000 - La Mama La Galleria, New York,

- NYKL Fine Arts, Highland Park,IL

- Doll-Anstadt Gallery, Burlington, VT

1999

- 'There is No Place Like Home,' Park Ave, Atrium, NYC; curated by Leah Poller, Director, Art Alliance, NYC

1998

- Broadway Windows, New York,

- Doll-Anstadt Gallery, Burlington, VT

1996

- 479 Gallery, New York,

- Art Center, Baltimore, MD

1993

- Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA