RACHEL MAXI | TEMPORAL REFLECTIONS
Nabla Tower, wood, oil paint, beeswax, gold and silver leaf, metal, 50 x 61.5 x 3 inches
Foster/White is excited to announce that Seattle-based Rachel Maxi has officially joined our roster of artists. Temporal Reflections is a collection of six intricate, wall-based sculptures. The works are, in a way, assemblages but also behave as paintings, composed of multitudes of bespoke components while playing on perceptions of figure and ground. Maxi's alchemy of materials and wide range of techniques distinguish one puzzle piece from the next, carefully crafting visual stories that tell of memory and place.
Golden Hour, oil paint, India ink, beeswax, gold and metal leaf, 20 x 23.5 x 2.25 inches
The pieces showcased here were developed over the last year and a half. Initially, I concentrated on creating larger paintings on canvas. I utilized any leftover paint on small panels, sometimes resulting in small paintings or vibrant swatches of thick color. Alongside these, I crafted free-standing sculptures from found wood and other materials that entered my studio during my travels—tokens from long walks on beaches or in cities I had visited. These items hold significance related to specific places and times in my life, serving as relics within the art. I incorporated these found objects into painted elements and created sculptural pieces that hang on the wall like paintings. The work references various landscapes and skies: a radiant pink sunset, a drizzly day on land by the sea, and fleeting subconscious visual impressions. I explore environments and how light changes them throughout the day, how it affects color, and how that, in turn, influences our emotions. Each piece considers the nuances of the time alongside personal memories tied to different environments and experiences.
I invite viewers to reflect on the concept of time and memory, especially in relation to light and color. Ancient cultures often looked to the sky and stars to measure time. And they used places to identify memories. Today, how do we, as humans, calculate and process time and memory, and how do we honor our connection to nature and place? - Rachel Maxi
Sunburst, oil, wood, beeswax, metal, and silverleaf, 21.5 x 29.25 x 2.25 inches
Rachel Maxi is a long time Seattle based artist working in painting, sculpture and various media. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she graduated from Xavier University in 1988, and came to Seattle after college in 1990. Her work has shown in the Seattle and Tacoma Art Museums and is widely collected both publicly and privately.