Rachel Ostrow
Brooklyn, NY, United States
1 Works exhibited on Kooness
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Works by Rachel Ostrow
My paintings urge the eye and the mind to wander within space, form, light and movement. They skirt between abstraction and representation, reveling in the fluidity of visual perception. Instead of prescribing content, they hint at the identifiable while remaining elusive. Indulging in the mystery, uncertainty and openness of our visual experience, they use abstraction to be suggestive and to engage the viewer's imagination.
I paint with a squeegee and unearth images by pushing around layers of transparent paint. This process is physical and playful, like improvisational dance. I add paint with a brush and I throw paint and mediums at the panel. Then, with varied speed, pressure and gesture, I push over those marks with the squeegee. The edge of the squeegee veils the paint ‘below’ while creating its own sculptural mark ‘above’. I erase entire paintings frequently and rely on chance for every mark.
When paint moves and combines under pressure from the squeegee blade, it mixes or blends based on its material properties. Oil paint is made up of different pigments and binders. Some paint colors are more slippery than others and some colors are extremely sticky. When they mix, they form visual passages that echo the natural world because of the way the paints react to one another. This alchemical process creates strange spaces, figures and moments of light that could have never been planned.
– Rachel Ostrow, 2020
EDUCATION:
Hunter College, Manhattan, NY (2004 - 2008), MFA, 2008, Recipient of Tom Woods Award
Maryland Institute College of Art, Center for Art and Culture, Aix-en-Provence, France (2001- 2002), Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, 2002
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (1995-1999), Bachelor of Arts, Departmental Honors, May 1999
SELECTED SOLO SHOWS AND PROJECTS:
Disturb The Neighbors, Polishing The Jewel Box, New York, NY (2019)
Sardine Gallery, Free Hand, Brooklyn, NY (2019)
Planthouse, Rachel Ostrow, One More Time With Feeling, New York, NY (2018)
Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Counter, Pie With Artists, Brooklyn, NY (2018)
42 Social Club, Rachel Ostrow, Up She Flew, Lyme, CT (2017)
Sunday Takeout, Rachel Ostrow, As of Now, Brooklyn, NY (2016)
The Kenan Center, Rachel Ostrow, Runaway Sun, Lockport, NY (2016)
John Davis Gallery, Rachel Ostrow, Nothing but love songs, Hudson, NY (2015)
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS:
Littlejohn Contemporary, We Never Sleep, New York, NY (2018)
Planthouse, Four More Years, Manhattan, NY (2017)
Morgan Lehman, Brushless, Manhattan, NY (2017)
BRIC Arts Media, BRIC Biennial Vol. II, Brooklyn, NY (2016)
Galerie René Blouin, Group exhibition curated by Genevèive Cadieux and Kiki Smith, Montreal, Canada (2016)
Planthouse, Fold, Anders Bergstrom, Martha Lewis, Matt Magee, and Rachel Ostrow, Manhattan, NY (2015)
Trash4Gold, Spring/Break art show, Manhattan, NY (2015)
International Print Center New York, Somewheres & Nowheres, New Prints 2014/Autumn, Manhattan, NY (2014)
Fisher Gallery at Horace Mann, Pulling the Devil's Tail, Manhattan, NY (2014)
Gowanus Studio Space, Discrete Geometry, Brooklyn, NY (2014)
Rhombus Space, A-Side/B-Side, Brooklyn, NY (2013)
Geoffrey Young Gallery, Tryst & Shout, Great Barrington, MA (2013)
PRESS:
Artforum, March 2019, Rachel Ostrow at Planthouse by Darren Jones
Niagara Gazette, February 2016, Kenan Center opens exhibition from Rachel Ostrow by Kellie Butcher