Personal Narratives in Pastel on Sandpaper
Barbara Rachko, barbararachko.art, is an American contemporary artist, blogger, and author who divides her time between residences in New York City and Alexandria, VA. She is best known for her pastel-on-sandpaper paintings, her eBook, “From Pilot to Painter” (available on Amazon), and her wildly popular blog, “Barbara Rachko’s Colored Dust,” which is growing by 1,000 – 2,000 subscribers each month.
Barbara has led an extraordinary, inspiring life. She learned to fly at the age of 25 and became a commercial pilot and Boeing-727 flight engineer before joining the Navy. As a Naval officer she spent many years working at the Pentagon and retired as a Commander. On 9/11 her husband, Dr. Bryan C. Jack, was tragically killed on the plane that hit the Pentagon.
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The Enigma, soft pastel on sandpaper, 26″ x 20″ image, 35″ x 28.5″ framed
Barbara uses her large collection of Mexican and Guatemalan folk art – masks, carved wooden animals, papier mâché figures, and toys – to create one-of-a-kind pastel-on-sandpaper paintings that combine reality and fantasy and depict personal narratives.
In 2017 she began work on a series called, “Bolivianos,” based on her stunning photographs of a mask exhibition seen at the Museum of Ethnography and Folklore in La Paz. Her pastel paintings are bold, striking, and powerful.
Raconteur, soft pastel on sandpaper 58″ x 38″ image, 70″ x 50″ framed
For more than three decades, Barbara has been “Revolutionizing Pastel as Fine Art”. She is represented by galleries in the United States, Europe, and Asia and exhibits nationally and internationally. She has won many awards as a professional artist.
With each pastel painting Barbara leads viewers to a new and compelling world of discovery and enchantment. Her inimitable interpretations of unique subjects, use of colors, and profound symbolism, combined with her extraordinary technical proficiency, have earned her a much-deserved distinction as a leading pastel painter of our time.
Sacrificial, soft pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38″ image, 70″ x 50″ framed
New York critic Peter Dellolio remarks, “It is undeniable that, like de Chirico, Barbara Rachko has created a unique, original, and very private landscape.”
Arts writer Ann Landi writes, “Barbara Rachko’s antecedents are not in the folk art traditions of the cultures she studies and embraces, but rather in the sophisticated strategies of Henry Matisse (who was a master at mixing patterns) and Edgar Degas (who exploited the power of oblique angles and cropped figures).”
The Mentalist, soft pastel on sandpaper, 26″ x 20″ image, 35″ x 28.5″ framed
Dr. Lisa Paul Streitfeld, “New Media impressario”, explains, “If Andre Serrano were a painter, he would do a Barbara Rachko. Indeed, the advent of an erotic consciousness that Serrano initiated in the hyperrealist medium of photography now extends to canvas; Barbara Rachko newly interprets painting as the subject/object ‘capturing site’ of the 360-degree perspective.”
Poseur, soft pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38″ image, 70″ x 50″ framed
About Barbara and her art Elliot Cukor, actor and businessman has stated, “Your work is majestic. So unique for an American artist. It has all come together to bring a special style and both an elegant and powerfully noble vision. Wish we had more of those qualities in today’s world”.
Artists.com proclaimed: “Rachko has done a spectacular job at allowing viewers to understand her, her approach to art, and her techniques. The diversity of her background and experiences has certainty had a significant effect on her unique and remarkable approach to art, and her ability to consistently create such important works.”
In 2023, Barbara’s new short film “Barbara Rachko: True Grit” won two awards at the Newport Beach Film Festival – the Audience Award and the Best in Category Award. It is also an an Official Selection of the International Fine Arts Film Festival (Santa Barbara) and the Montreal Women Film Festival. She states, “We made it with a first-time female director and a mostly female crew. We are hoping to turn our short documentary into a feature film at a later date.”
Banner image: Detail of Acolytes, soft pastel on sandpaper, 38″ x 58″ image, 50″ x 70″ framed.
Visit Barbara Rachko’s website barbararachko.art
Visit her blog barbararachkoscoloreddust.com
Barbara’s wikipedia biography en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Rachko.
Join Barbara Rachko on Social Media
Facebook.com/barbararachko
Linkedin.com/in/barbararachko
Instagram.com/barbararachko_artist
Twitter.com/brachko_artist
Brenda Fox says
I truly enjoyed this article!