BARBARA RACHKO
1. What kind of internal conversations do you tend to have when you are in the process of making art?
When standing at my easel creating a pastel painting, I focus on formal properties: composition, shape, color, and line. I always strive to produce a painting I've never seen before. Even as (perhaps especially as) the creator, I want to be surprised by the final result. My studio days are spent thinking, looking, reacting, and adjusting colors and composition as I refine increasingly tiny details, ensuring all elements work harmoniously. I determine which areas need to recede or advance, which require intricate details to appear three-dimensional, and which are better left as flat areas of color.
These countless adjustments ensure viewers’ eyes are guided around the finished painting in intriguing ways. I often recall something collectors of my pastel paintings shared: they mentioned a New York Times review of a Nan Goldin exhibition, in which the writer stated, “All of the pleasure circuits are fired in looking.” The collectors agreed this is exactly how they feel when viewing my work. Artists live for appreciative comments like these!
2. You read books on Friedrich Nietzsche and other philosophers. How has philosophy and your personal experience shaped your latest series, Bolivianos?
It’s difficult to pinpoint how philosophy specifically shaped my work because my curiosity spans so many subjects. Some critics have described me as a Renaissance woman, remarking on my wide-ranging and voracious reading. It's true—I’m genuinely interested in practically everything!
In pursuit of making art, I have undertaken in-depth studies of numerous intriguing fields: drawing, color, composition, gross anatomy, art and art history, the art business, film history, photography, psychology, mythology, literature, philosophy, religion, music, jazz history, and archaeology—particularly ancient Mesoamerica (Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Aztec, and Maya) and South America (the Inca and their ancestors).
Since the early 1990s, my inspiration and subject matter have come primarily from international travel to remote parts of the globe, especially Mexico, Central America, and South America. Travel is by far the best education! By visiting distant destinations, I have developed a deep reverence for people and cultures around the world. People everywhere are connected by our shared humanity.
These travels, supplemented by extensive research at home, are essential parts of my creative process. Research can be solitary and demanding, but I truly enjoy it. I want to know as much as possible, and this curiosity generates ideas for new work, propelling me into unexplored creative realms.
Foreign travel always expands our ways of thinking. This rich mixture of creative influences continually evolves and finds its way into my pastel paintings. Working, learning, evolving, and growing—I am perpetually curious and can hardly imagine a better way to spend my time on Earth!
3. You take 3-4 months to complete one artwork. How do you plan a series such as Bolivianos over a year’s timeline and across multiple years?
Bolivianos is my third series, and like the previous two, it naturally evolves from one painting to the next. There wasn't a long-term plan involved, and I doubt such detailed planning would even be practical. Many artists likely work this way—finishing one project and then beginning another. As with Bolivianos, I typically have ideas for the next two or three paintings, but little concept beyond that.
The main impetus for Bolivianos was to continue work I began in the early 1990s. During a visit to La Paz, I captured a series of stunning photographs, inspiring me to translate them into a major pastel series. Each painting leads to ideas about the next, guiding the entire series' evolution and shaping my understanding of its meaning. Both the series and my insights deepen as I engage further with the subject matter.
The Bolivian Carnival masks I photographed provided the starting point for a long and continuing intellectual journey.
4. You started the Bolivianos series in 2017. It has been eight years since you created The Champ. Focusing on a single series for nearly a decade demonstrates great stability compared to many artists who leap to each new inspiration. Beyond your inspiration from Bolivian culture, how have discipline, stability, focus, and punctuality defined your work?
My first series, Domestic Threats, lasted fifteen years, and my second, Black Paintings, lasted ten. Stability and related qualities are likely natural parts of my personality, reinforced by my previous professional life. My prior careers as a Navy Commander, commercial pilot, and Boeing-727 Flight Engineer undoubtedly helped develop discipline, stability, focus, and punctuality. Details matter deeply to me; as a Naval Officer for twenty-one years, “attention to detail” was paramount. From my earliest days as an artist, I have been meticulous and dedicated to inventing new techniques and refining the craft of soft pastel.
I dislike wasting precious time. As a goal-oriented person, I continually strive to accomplish as much as possible. These qualities were influenced by my Navy career and further deepened by the tragic loss of my husband onboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. I understand firsthand that life can change in an instant. Whenever I finish one task, I immediately look around and ask, “OK, what’s next?” I devote my studio time to pushing myself and pastel to new technical heights. There’s always more to accomplish as an artist!
Biography
Barbara Rachko, born in 1953 in Paterson, New Jersey, is a New York-based contemporary painter renowned for her masterful pastel-on-sandpaper compositions that illuminate the vivid cultural iconography of Bolivian Carnival masks. Over the past four decades, she has emerged as a pioneering force in redefining pastel as a significant medium within the fine arts. Her practice combines refined technique with cultural reverence, drawing on visual elements from Bolivian, Mexican, and Guatemalan folk traditions. With a growing international following—including over 220,000 subscribers to her blog Barbara Rachko’s Colored Dust—Rachko continues to shape discourse around the expressive possibilities of pastel art.
Rachko’s recent exhibitions further highlight her sustained artistic impact and global reach. In 2025, her works were presented at La Rupture du Désir, a critically acclaimed group show organized by Vedica Art Studios and Gallery in Paris, France, followed by Unveiling in Mumbai, India, also curated by Vedica. These presentations expanded the dialogue around her powerful visual language and its connections to ritual, myth, and identity. In 2024, Rachko was also represented by Vedica Art Studios and Gallery at the NOISE Media Art Fair in Vienna, Austria—demonstrating the evolving versatility and resonance of her practice in contemporary art circuits.
Known for her signature series such as Bolivianos, Black Paintings, and Domestic Threats, Rachko’s artworks have been exhibited in prominent solo shows across the United States, including at the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery at Walton Arts Center, Louise Jones Brown Gallery at Duke University, Olin Gallery, and La MaMa La Galleria in New York. Her artistic journey is further chronicled in the award-winning documentary Barbara Rachko: True Grit and her autobiographical ebook From Pilot to Painter. With works held in private collections worldwide and a background in photography and fine art training, Barbara Rachko continues to be celebrated as a visionary whose dedication to the pastel medium bridges tradition with innovation.
CV
Born in 1953 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA
Resides and works in New York, USA
Selected Exhibitions
2026 Continuities without Containment, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Paris, France (Group, Upcoming)
2026 Histories Unbound, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Paris, France (Group)
2025 Parasitó, curated by Student Governor at Arts University Plymouth Mr. Donald Britz, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, in collaboration with the Consulate of Mexico in Mumbai, Mumbai, India (Group)
2025 La Rupture du Désir, curated by Student Governor at Arts University Plymouth Mr. Donald Britz, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Paris, France (Group)
2025 Unveiling, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Mumbai, India (Group)
2025 Global Open Studio Visit, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Global (Group)
2025 The Road to Authenticity, Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Artsy (Group)
2023 Winter Wonderland, bG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA (Group)
2023 Artists for the Cure (Breast Cancer Awareness Event), 114 West 71st Arts, New York, NY, USA (Group)
2023 Mythos, The Gallery Space, Rahway, NJ, USA (Group)
2022 The In-Between Space, Riverfront Art Gallery, Yonkers, NY, USA (Group)
Selected Fairs
2024 NOISE Media Art Fair, represented by Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2023 Moon Art Fair Hamburg, The Westin Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
2021 Vasteras International Art Fair, Galleri SoHo, Vasteras, Sweden
Selected Press
Anastasia Sukhanov, “Pastel, Passion & Perseverance” in .ART Odyssey: Healing Magazine (2026)
Carmela Brunetti & Siddhant Khattri, “Interview to the Artist Barbara Rachko” in ArtonWorld Magazine (2025)
Siddhant Khattri, “Masks, Memory, and Metamorphosis” in Parasitó eBook (2025)
Ksenia Drobyshevskaya, “La Rupture du Désir” in ArtonWorld Magazine (2025)
Artnet Gallery Network, “Mumbai’s Vedica Art Gallery is Fostering Art that Spans the Globe” in Artnet (2025) at [URL]
Haleigh Overseth, “Bold Pastels & Grit” in Franki’s Open Mic Podcast (2025)
Employment Head at Arts University Plymouth, Louise Sharland, “Webinar: Creative Mischief”, works featured, (2025)
Siddhant Khattri & Deepesh Moolchandani, “True Grit in Pastel” in Compounding Square (2024)
Tom May, "Making sense of loss" in creativeboom.com (2024)
John Wisniewski, "Barbara Rachko: A Contemporary Visual Artist" in Cultured Focus Magazine (2024)
The Apricus Podcast, "A Conversation with Barbara Rachko" in spotify.com (2023)
Bold Journey, "Meet Barbara Rachko" in boldjourney.com (2021)
CanvasRebel Magazine "Meet Barbara Rachko" in canvasrebel.com (2021)
Artamour, "Barbara Rachko: Flying Colours" in artamour.in (2021)
Peterdekuster, "The Heroine’s Journey of Barbara Rachko" in theheroinejourney2016.com (2020)
NYAC Studio View, "Barbara Rachko" in nyartistscircle.com (2020)
Elisa Pritzker, “From Pentagon to Painter” in ABC latino Magazine (2018)
Awards
2024 Patterns of Memory (Winner, 2nd), Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Mumbai, India
Barbara Rachko’s True Grit short documentary film
2023 Newport Beach Film Festival (Audience Award), California, USA
Architecture and Design Award (Best in Category for Art), California, USA
Fine Arts Film Festival (Honorable Mention), Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Montreal Women Film Festival (Nominee), Montreal, Canada
Professional Contribution
2026 Subject of Barbara Rachko’s True Grit Part 2, Short documentary film, directed by Jennifer Cox
2026 Interviewed Vice Minister of Culture, Bolivia
2026 Interviewed Mayor of La Paz, Bolivia
2023 Subject of Barbara Rachko’s True Grit, Short documentary film, directed by Jennifer Cox
2023 Member, International Association of Visual Artists
2017 From Pilot to Painter (eBook), iTunes
2014 From Pilot to Painter (eBook), Amazon
Inventor of a science for mixing pastels together to create new colors.