BIO

‘My practice integrates, painting, sculpture, video and installation. The work is deeply rooted in extensive research into contemporary science, the fundamental elements of nature, the mathematics of harmonious forms, and the energy potential in material objects. The paintings explore the field of abstraction from a point of view that intertwines the natural world, perception, and imagination. They are created by layering pigments collected from rocks and minerals directly onto the raw linen canvas until abstract universes emerge. The use of natural materials seeks to link the terrestrial with inner landscapes, while the geometry, shapes and colours of the paintings evoke dreamlike spaces, impossible architectures and indecipherable symbols, and function as a point of intersection of the visible and the invisible.

The works comprise a distinct language of geometric and symbolic forms that I have developed over many years that are both personal imaginaries and loose interpretations of propositions in quantum physics. My site-specific, ephemeral installations using nature as the medium, interweave these forms in relation to specific natural phenomena, while the sculptures, which in juxtaposition, are heavy and weighted. Looking at the current fractiousness of global politics and the challenges facing the natural world. The work aims to see the potential in the cosmic structure as a reliable system that holds everything together. In a time of uncertainty and divisiveness, I believe in anchoring my work in the unchanging principles that govern the universe.’

Rachel Garrard was born in 1984 in Devon, England and currently lives between New York and Mexico. Garrard gained a BFA and MFA at Central Saint Martins, London. She has been awarded artist residencies at Casa Wabi, Oaxaca (2022), CCAndraxt, Mallorca (2022), the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, CT (2018) Yaddo, NY (2018) and Millay Colony, NY (2018), the Center for the Holographic Arts at Ohio State University (2012) and the Atacama Telescope Farm in Chile (2011). Her work has been exhibited at the Academy Mansion, NYC (2023), Casa Wabi (2022), Hammond Museum, NY (2019), Kraftwerk, Berlin (2017), Pioneer Works, NYC (2016), the National Academy Museum, NYC (2015), Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne, France (2015), Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City (2014), Eyebeam Art and Technology Center (2012), Participant Inc. (2010), Yota Space Digital Arts Festival, St Petersburg (2010), and ICA, London (2009). She has been the subject of solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Aspen, Berlin, Mexico City, Monterrey and Hong Kong. Her work has been featured in publications such as Art Forum, Art Observed, Harper’s Bazaar, Monopol, Dazed and Confused, Architectural Digest and The Wall Street Journal.