This series of paintings were inspired by the mystery and lore that lies just beyond the light.
Please see my online store and the Var small works gallery for available works.
5"x7" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016.
Sold to private collector.
6"x6"" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016. Series: Night Scene.
Sold to private collector.
6"x6" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016. Series: Night Scene.
Sold to private collector.
4"x4" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016.
8"x8" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016.
6"x8" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016. Series: Night Scene.
Sold to private collector.
5"x7" x"1, acrylic on panel, 2016.
6" tondo x1", acrylic on panel, 2016.
6"x8" x1", acrylic on panel, 2016.
Sold to private collector.
6"x6" x"1, acrylic on panel, 2016.
9.5"x6" x2" (house-shaped), acrylic on wood, 2016.
Sold to private collector.
17"x17" acrylic on panel, 2016. Made by request for Tim Lowly 's exhibit La Mer | La Mère (The Mother | The Sea), a Lowly exhibition with 20 participants / collaborators at St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN. (September 6 – 30, 2016) and at St. Mary’s University, Winona, MN (October 10 – November 12, 2016). See timlowly.com .
not for sale.
13"x11" x"1, acrylic on panel, 2016.
NFS.
acrylic on board, 4”x4”, 2019.
Sold to private collector.
4x4” acrylic on wood.
Sold to private collector.
acrylic on board, 4”x4”, 2019.
Sold to private collector.
acrylic on board, 4”x4”, 2019.
Sold to private collector.
acrylic on board, 4”x4”, 2019
NFS.
acrylic on board, 4”x4”, 2019
Not available.
acrylic on board, 4”x4”, 2019
NFS
5”x3”, acrylic on panel, 2018.
Sold to private collector.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, started in 2009; updated in 2018.
4”x4”, acrylic on panel, started in 2010; updated in 2018.
Sold to private collector.
4”x4”, acrylic on panel, 2018.
6”x6”, acrylic on panel, 2018.
Sold to private collector.
18x24, acrylic on wood, 2020.
8x10”, acrylic on panel, 2021. sold to private collector.
Field Notes is an ongoing project since 2016. These works are an exercise in presentness, and considered a physical byproduct of meditation on a small world. The project began as a hike into the woods to discover and spend time with small ecosystems, such as stumps or fungi, studying their ephemeral ways and drawing their fleeting, everchanging portrait- and has evolved over the years to include small drawings and prints that are a reflection on all of the small ways we interact with nature everyday, even in urban areas.
Some of the following drawings were featured in Loam Magazine the summer of 2018.
These drawings are for sale. Please email me at rachmgonzalez@gmail.com to purchase one or several.
18"x24" graphite on paper
18"x24" graphite on paper
18"x24", graphite on paper.
18"x24", graphite on paper.
18"x24", graphite on paper.
18"x24", graphite on paper.
Drypoint print on paper
drypoint on paper
Things that are not paintings.
Please see my online store for a current selection of brooms, prints and paper ephemera.
This piece was debuted at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL in 2015.
Excerpt from the essay Reaching for Catharsis by Roxanne Gay:
“It makes perfect sense that many of us obsess over our bodies. There is nothing more inescapable. Our bodies move us through our lives. They bring pleasure and pain. Sometimes our bodies serve us well, and other times our bodies become terribly inconvenient. There are times when our bodies betray us or our bodies are betrayed by others. I think about my body all the time—how it looks, how it feels, how I can make it smaller, what I should put into it, what I am putting into it, what has been done to it, what I do to it, what I let others do to it. This bodily preoccupation is exhausting... I don’t think I know any woman who doesn’t hate herself and her body at least a little bit. Bodily obsession is, perhaps, a human condition because of its inescapability.”
After reading this passage we came to the realization that each of us have ritualistic self absorbed actions directed towards our bodies, which we initially assumed to be a solitary experience. As we discovered the ways in which we are obsessed with our bodies, we formulated this piece in response to the fear... standing alone, in a room, with a camera and a mirror, we are pitching our stories to the public. There are many thoughts that command attention as we look in the mirror—if only these few things were different, would we be happy? Reaching for Catharsisis an attempt to face these fears head on, to let it go, to understand the illogical nature of these actions against our bodies, to confront the pain that is deeper than surface appearances, and to learn to accept and be kind to the vessels that carry us through life.
This piece was created by myself and the creatura collective.
Anatomica is a stop action facial drawing inspired by medical/cadaver illustrations from the turn of the century. This piece was created by myself and the creatura collective.
wax cast sculpture, 2008.
Wire sculpture, 35 mm film photograph. 2008.
Hollowed hard cover book, acrylic paint, adhesive, lace, wax cast sculpture of face, acrylic paint, thread and paper. 2009. Left in an undisclosed literary location to delight and confuse.
water color paper, ink, acrylic paint, lace, thread, hollowed book. 2011.
Found paper wasp nest, dried moss, paper, homemade ink, adhesive, hollowed book. Made for the Creative Living center, 2019.
Cut and collaged book materials. Made for the Creative living center, 2019.
wax cast sculpture, acrylic paint, wire. 2009.
acrylic on foraged deer bone, 2012. Private collection.
acrylic paint, foraged deer bone, 2012, Private collection.
clay, acrylic paint, wire. 2011. Private Collection.
In January 2021 I was moved to challenge myself once again by making 30 artworks in 30 days (this time as a challenge independent of Var Gallery or any other representation). It was nearly a year into the pandemic and I wanted a focus that felt productive.
The first half of the month I devoted to flexing my graphite skills through nature studies and imagined portraits.
The second half of the month I explored all the ways fire can be either mundane or deeply spiritual, through small acrylic paintings. The final three days I had fun with mushrooms, and they are now in the private collection of a mycologist.
I completed the challenge on January 30th, succeeding at making only one painting per day the entire month without breaks.
Please visit my online store or the var small works gallery for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see the online store for available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see the online store for available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see the online store for available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see the online store for available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Graphite on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
Acrylic on panel, 6x6”.
Please see online store for any available works.
During the month of January 2019, I was selected to be a part of the fifth annual exhibit 30x30x30 at Var Gallery in Milwaukee. This show asks 30 artists to make one piece of artwork every single day for 30 days.
I formulated my 30x30 according to three parts of 10 each:
Part One: Creator/Birth/Creation
Part Two: Life/Living/Nurture/Nature
Part Three: Death/Destruction/Destroyer
The following are the works as they were created. The opening reception was held April 26, 2019 5-10pm at Var Gallery Milwaukee, Wisc.
Some of these works are still available via the Small Works Gallery at Var.
The whole 30 (29/30 have been reworked but the rest remain as created)
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
a new moon, painted on the first day of a new year, signaling the beginning of a new cycle where everything seems possible but even the light is resting
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
Water is Life.
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.3.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
Today I am thinking about the bulbs sleeping in their dark beds. We plant them in the fall so they are prepared to bloom the moment their little ‘eggs’ incubate in warm spring dirt. Does it all begin with the seed? Who plants the seed? Am I the seed or am I the root? Is birth the moment of planting, or is it when I shed my little seed-coat and crane my neck toward the sun?
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.4.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
incubator, womb for all things, but also the place where we plant and where we deposit our dead and where decay becomes fertile and births again- creation is a hard thing to chase with a paintbrush because it resembles the dead the harder you squint at it
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.5.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
For as long as we have seen, have we not gazed up at the sky?
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.6.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
In the first part of this series, I’m thinking about birth narratives and creation and the images we associate with such. There’s the obvious images and stories we tell, of course, but birth and death exist around us and in us every day in ways we often don’t acknowledge. In traditional Chinese medicine, the first phase of the life cycle is ruled by wood- it signifies creation because it is the phase where new life takes form and becomes something else, a metamorphosis of nothing/mystery into something/tangible. Wood emerges from the undivided Whole and gives rise to the seperation of individual forms (Reichstein). Trees also feature in so many of our creation stories, from the Tree of life to the tree of Eden. During Yuletime, we bring evergreen trees and boughs ( descent from a pagan tradition ) into our homes because they invoke the birth of the light and allow us to remember its return during winter. The returning sunlight that grows each day after the winter solstice is the start of a new cycle, the birth of a new year where everything is possible and growth is inevitable.
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.7.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
We’re taught to fear fire. Especially in the last few years, across the West we have seen the devastation and the tragedy fire can bring. But behind it’s power and mystery and destruction is life-giving properties which deserve an honoring of it’s own. Here in the Midwest, prairie fires play a crucial role in a healthy ecosystem- fire slows the invasion of wind blown seeds and trees and creates boundaries where everyone has the space and light and water to grow. Fire also speeds decomposition, returning nutrients to the soil that encourage speedier germination. I think back to my meditation on the bulb, and everything it needs while sleeping in the earth. Fire is a mother, is a quiet nourisher.
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.8.19
#30x30x30 #vargallery
When we lived in Mexico, my husband and I bought an incredible painting from an artist on the street (whose name completely escapes me right now...). It’s black and white painted and printed images of skeletons and anthropomorphic humanoids leaping and lunging through the air in a spiral dance. It’s one of my favorite pieces because every time I look at it, I notice something new. One thing my husband saw before I did, was that the creatures were spiraling on the back of a giant turtle.
We’ve all heard the folktales about turtles, but there are also many creation stories from across the globe that feature turtles as the carriers of the world. Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, North American mythology all feature the idea that we are carried by a godlike turtle through the cosmos. In North America, there is a story explaining eclipses from the Iroquois; “There is still talk," (said they) "of a very remarkable darkening of the Sun, which was supposed to have happened because the great turtle which upholds the earth, in changing its position or place, brought its shell before the Sun, and thus deprived the world of sight.” I love the idea of a universal mother turtle, keeping us safe.
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.9.19
Available.
6”x6” goldleaf on panel 1.10.19 #30x30x30 #vargallery
“Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on earth!” —Roman Payne
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.11.19
Part two explores imagery related to life, living, and nourishment.
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
For persephone, for the high priestess, for higher self
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
January 11-20, 2019
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
#30x30x30 #vargallery
Cockroaches are much hated, misunderstood beings because they are creatures of darkness, surviving and thriving in places and scenarios that would kill most others. Cockroaches don’t fear the dark, and they don’t fear the end- In fact, it is thought that cockroaches will still be here long after we are gone. Across cultures and stories, we see the common theme that darkness is the place we meet unknown/mystery. Darkness is the ending of day, it is the beginning of day, it is winter, it is sleep. Renewal. Magic. You could say that cockroaches represent both resilience and renewal. they hold a place in our ecosystem as recyclers. They help break down this organic debris; in the process, they add nutrients to the soil through their waste, and exist as a food source for small animals. There’s a common theme throughout this work as I think about what I am making, the spirals we live with from birth to death. The Ouroboros; I eat you, now you eat me. We cannot exist without one another, even the smallest creature in the dark.
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
#30x30x30 #vargallery
Mushrooms are the grandmothers and recyclers of our ecosystem, creating new life from decay.
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
#30x30x30 #vargallery
Flowers are presented at funerals for they represent the soul, temporarily filling the void left by the departed with fragrant, ephemeral beauty.
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
Available.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel 1.2019
SOLD to private collector.
6”x6” acrylic on panel, 2019
Available.
6”x6”, acrylic on panel, 2019
Available.
In 2018 my husband and I moved to Mexico City for work. This is what I saw, and painted, during that time.
These works are currently on sale at The Glass Pantry in Milwaukee or on my online store.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x10”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x10”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
12x9”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
sold to private collector.
8”x10”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x8”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
8”x10”, acrylic on panel, 2018, Mexico.
12x9”, graphite on gesso’d panel, 2018, Mexico.
A collaboration with Tim Lowly
TL: This was a collaborative project that focused on objects from the life of my daughter Temma . In the last few months of 2013 Chicago artist Rachael (McHan) Gonzalez worked as one of Temma's care-givers. While we has been friends for quite a while and she has been acquainted with Temma, her experience as one of Temma's caregivers informed her understanding of Temma and the role of these objects in Temma's life.
The procedure for this work was as follows:
1) We chose objects that are part of Temma's daily world.
2) Rachael started the piece, working either from the actual object or a photograph that she has taken of it. She worked on the piece until she was ready to pass it on.
3) I worked on the piece (from the original object, Rachael's photograph or my imagination) until it was finished.
These works were first shown in Feb 2014 at Koplin Del rio Gallery in L.A.- They remain available to show! Please contact Tim Lowly or Rachael Gonzalez for details.
selected works from 2012-2015.
Please see my online store and the Var small works collection for available works.
5"x7", acrylic on panel, 2012.
sold to private collector.
5"x7", acrylic on wood, 2013.
sold to private collector.
12"x12", acrylic on wood, 2012.
sold to private collector.
10"x10", acrylic on wood, 2013.
sold to private collector.
12"x12", acrylic on wood, 2012.
sold to private collector.
12"x12", acrylic on wood, 2012/13.
2'x4', acrylic on wood, 2012.
sold to private collector.
4"x6" unframed, charcoal and chalk on paper, 2013.
8"x10", acrylic on panel, 2014.
Not available.
12"x12", acrylic on panel, 2013.
16"x16", acrylic on wood, 2014
not available.
3"x4", acrylic on wood, 2013.
sold to private collector.
5"x7", acrylic on panel, 2013.
sold to private collector.
5"x7", acrylic on panel, 2013.
sold to private collector.
10"x10", acrylic on wood, 2013.
sold to private collector.
10"x10", acrylic on wood, 2013.
sold to private collector.
4"x4", acrylic on panel, 2013. sold to private collector.
oil on wood, 2015. sold to private collector.
Selected works from 2009-2012, just following undergraduate.
Please see my online store and the Var small works gallery for available works.
6"x6", acrylic on panel, 2009.
sold to private collector.
16"x16", acrylic on wood, 2009.
16"x20", acrylic on panel, 2009.
14"x2-", mixed media on wood, 2009. (SOLD)
12"X20", mixed media on wood, 2009.
6'x3', mixed media on wooden door, 2009.
sold to private collector.
16"x20", mixed media on panel, 2009.
sold to private collector.
4"x4", acrylic on panel, 2009.
sold to private collector.
6"x6", acrylic on panel, 2010.
sold to private collector.
6" tondo, acrylic on wood, 2010.
Currently not available- on display at ART BAR Milwaukee WI October 2018-December 2018
8"x8", acrylic on panel, 2010. This work was updated and revised in 2018.
Currently not available- on display at ART BAR Milwaukee WI October 2018-December 2018
6"x6", chalk and acrylic on panel, 2010.
sold to private collector.
4"x4", acrylic on panel, 2009.
sold to private collector.
10"x10", acrylic on panel, 2009.
sold to private collector.
2"x3", acrylic on wood, 2010.
sold to private collector.
4"x6" unframed, graphite on paper, 2009.
acrylic on wood, 2010.
unavailable.
5"x7", chalk and gesso on board, 2011.
unavailable.
5" oval, acrylic on board, 2011.
sold to private collector.
10"x12", mixed media on board, 2009/11.
8"x10", ink and acrylic on wood, 2010.
sold to private collector.
6"x6", acrylic on panel, 2010.
sold to private collector.
5" tondo, acrylic on wood, 2010.
sold to private collector.
6"x6", acrylic and chalk on panel, 2009.
sold to private collector.
Drawn at a Buy Art Not People Panel Event. watercolor, ink and chalk on bristol.
Not available.
Drawn at a Buy Art Not People Panel Event. watercolor, ink and chalk on bristol.
Not available.
Drawn at a Buy Art Not People Panel Event. watercolor, ink and chalk on bristol.
Not available.
Drawn at a Buy Art Not People Panel Event. watercolor, ink and chalk on bristol.
Not available.
Drawn at a Buy Art Not People Panel Event. watercolor, ink and chalk on bristol.
Not available.
Drawn at a Buy Art Not People Panel Event. watercolor, ink and chalk on bristol.
Not available.
8"x8" unframed, ink and chalk on paper, 2011.
8"x8" unframed, graphite and ink on paper, 2011.
4"x6", acrylic on wood, 2010/12.
sold to private collector.
8"x8", acrylic on panel, 2010/11.
sold to private collector.
8"x12" unframed, acrylic on paper, 2011/12.
4"x4", acrylic on panel, 2010.
sold to private collector.
5"x7" unframed, graphite on paper, 2011.
sold to private collector.
6" tondo, acrylic on wood, 2010.
sold to private collector.
16"x20", x2, acrylic on wood, 2009.
8"x11" unframed, acrylic and ink on paper, 2009.
sold to private collector.
8"x11" unframed, acrylic and ink on paper, 2009.
sold to private collector.
11" oval, acrylic on paper, framed. 2010.
4"x4", acrylic on panel, 2010.
sold to private collector.
8"x10" oval, acrylic on panel, 2011/12.
sold to private collector.