“Biophilic Harmonies”
A Solo Fine Art Exhibition
by Artist Rachel Berkowitz
San Diego’s Pacific Beach/Taylor Branch Library Gallery has selected international artist Rachel Berkowitz’s large-scale mixed-media paintings for a 2 month show, beginning February 1st, 2023 until May 31st, 2023. There will be an opening reception on February 4th with musical performances at the gallery from 3pm-5.30pm. The gallery will be open daily Monday- Saturday, with hours as Monday - Tuesday: 11:30am - 8:00pm and Wednesday - Saturday: 9:30am - 6:00pm.
The Biophilic Harmonies series explores how human interactions with the natural world are expressed as desires and emotional constructs. The artwork serves as an escape from an anxious reality, allowing the viewer to get lost into a contemplative mindset, similar to that found in natural environments. Through painting and mixed media installations, the work combines abstract organic forms with physical natural elements to represent the human affinity for nature - or biophilia. The interplay between the conceptual and the formal elements in each piece creates a visual garden. Light as an energy source plays a strong role in the aesthetic and spiritual nature of the work, as the contrasting techniques lead into meditations for the viewer. Berkowitz’s recent travels across US National Parks have been a strong source of inspiration, placing a need on the heightened concern for conservation and preservation. Emotional experiences are the premise of the work, and the mark-making process serves to deepen mental awareness of one’s place in the natural world.
In response to lengthy spells of indoor isolation, societal anxiety and loss during the pandemic, Berkowitz began to incorporate plants and natural elements into her artwork to recreate a fusion between human spiritual experience and nature. The artwork engages the viewer through textured techniques and intricate abstract painting methods, using various materials such as wax, copper oxides, glass particulates and real plants themselves. By using a mix of both dried and alive plant matter, the work itself is alive and will change as time progresses. The cyclical nature of the work highlights the idea of rebirth and renewal, reminding the viewer to breathe and slow down. Heightened desires to be released from enclosures are expressed through the structural compositions. There are references to man-made architectural structures hidden within the paintings, depicting the space that the work has been made in and to time-stamp the art-making process.
Pacific Beach/ Taylor Library - 4275 Cass St., San Diego, CA 92109 https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/locations/pacific-beach-taylor-library
About the Artist: Rachel Berkowitz
Rachel Berkowitz lives and works in Los Angeles, (b. Ohio, USA 1993), grew up in London, England and received a BA from UCLA’s School of Art and Architecture, graduating in 2016. Rachel has previously exhibited her paintings and photography at solo and group shows across the US and internationally including the UK, Italy, France and Japan. Rachel’s art practice has developed through artist residencies and community experiences, including the La Napoule Artist Foundation in France (2020) and the Slade School of Art London Summer Intensive in England (2019). Rachel has been awarded first place in various International Fine Art competitions, and is constantly working on public and private commissions from staging paintings for Palm Springs Modernism Week, to painting a mural for Bill Nye, The Science Guy’s new videos at The Planetary Society in Pasadena. Rachel is also engaged in community arts programming where she teaches art to children in schools that cannot afford arts education, and at children’s hospitals and neighborhood LA events. For competitions sponsored by the City of Los Angeles, she has painted many public murals incorporating natural forms and flora.
www.rachelberkowitzart.com /www.instagram.com/rachelberkowitzart