Rachel Garrard Connects the Internal World with the Cosmic and Universal

Inspired by spiritual contemplation and rituals, Rachel Garrard (b. 1984, UK) explores light and perception in her practice. The artist collects natural materials on her travels, such as crystal quartz, ash, or rock, and refines them into pigment, which she uses to create the illusion of depth and bring out an inner light within her paintings. Rachel’s works are created in her studio in Tulum, Mexico, bathed in natural sunlight. Each work is a portal: a window opening to the artist’s inner world, or rather, the expansive landscape of universal connectivity. Accessed through meditation, the harmonious forms and symbols in her paintings are reminiscent of atoms, organisms, or solar systems. Her practice intimately connects the internal world with the cosmic and universal. Her meditative works present the viewer with the space to pause, breathe, and contemplate. These mesmerizing compositions portray the liminal space between the physical world and the mind, illuminating the connection that binds all living forms with the universe.

Garrard gained a BFA and MFA at Central Saint Martins, London. She has been awarded artist residencies at Casa Wabi, Oaxaca (2022), CCA Andratx, 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 Hammond Museum, NY (2019), Kraftwerk, Berlin (2017), Pioneer Works, NY (2016), the National Academy Museum, NY (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). Her work is currently on view at Kwai Fung Hin gallery, Hong Kong, as part of the exhibition Lightness of Being curated by Claudia Cheng. 

Rachel Garrard, Genesis, 2023. Rock powder pigment on linen.

Rachel Garrard, Portal, 2023. Rock powder pigment on linen.

What brought you into the art world? Do you have any memories from your childhood that drove you to become an artist?

I actually do have specific memories as a child of being told that I would be an artist. I used to meditate as a child, spontaneously, this was not something I had been taught but happened naturally when I was alone in nature. I would hear voices and see colours and light forms. I heard over and over that I would be an artist, so I never questioned this. I always knew this was what I would be doing. I have of course had many challenges along the way, especially when I was starting my career and not making enough money to live on etc. But making art has always remained my central focus.

Your ethereal, spiritual paintings are akin to a portal to another world. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I have continued to meditate, and I have a clear method at this point where the inspiration comes from. I see everything first in an ephemeral form before I make it. The inspiration comes in a variety of ways, either through images and visions, sometimes feelings or ideas. They come back over and over again until they start to come into form. I make notes and diagrams in my sketchbook and eventually some of these become artworks. I believe these ideas come from a slightly different consciousness to normal thinking—they contain symbols and references to a language of reductive forms that I am myself only starting to understand in retrospect by studying them.

Can you describe your creative process and how you choose the colour palette and pigments for each work?

When it comes to making a work, I go through my sketchbook and study the text and diagrams that I have been working on. I wait until it becomes clear which direction to take next. The medium and material of the work are not so important for me, the ideas can be translated in a variety of ways–through painting, sculpture, installation, video–it doesn’t really matter. I usually choose the medium depending on where I will be showing next, and what medium and materials make sense. I like to use things from nature as the building blocks of the work. In my ephemeral installations, this means actually collecting seed pods, stones etc. and placing them in specific ways. For my paintings, I use rock pigments that I have personally collected, hand-ground, and applied to raw linen through a process of fine layering. The sediments on canvas not only create depth and dimensionality, but the rock pigments speak of places and memories.

Rachel Garrard, After Again, 2023. Rock powder pigment on linen.

Rachel Garrard, Manifold, 2023. Rock powder pigment on linen.

Tell me about the symbolic forms in your work.

For me it is crucial to search for the mesh of relationships–the visible and invisible web of meaning that connects all living things. Through this I have developed a symbolic language that intimately connects the internal with the cosmic and universal. The symbols come directly from inner visions. They are interwoven throughout the works, creating a dialogue of forms, a language that can be interpreted intuitively. 

I was thrilled that you created four new paintings for the show Lightness of Being I curated for Kwai Fung Hin Gallery. Tell me how you see your work in conversation with this theme. Is there a story behind this body of work?

I have created four distinct paintings for the exhibition. They each discuss the idea of light in different interpretations. I used hand-ground rock powder pigment on linen, building up each layer slowly to create the illusion of depth and to bring out an inner light within the painting. 

Are there any artists who have especially inspired you?

There are so many artists whose work I love and respect. I like any artwork that makes me feel something specific, and I like art that feels alive. The works of Giacometti, Rothko, James Turrell and Agnes Martin meant a lot to me growing up. 

What are you working on next?

I am working on a number of different projects, I have exhibitions coming up in Mexico and Aspen, and I am working on a larger installation of concrete sculptures.