Grego Rachko:
“A Map of My Heart”
January 2, 2024 - February 28, 2024
@ Collins Pub / Pioneer Square
Featured Image: “A Map Of My Heart”,Oils, 44”x36”, 2008
A Map of My Heart
Artist’s Statement:
In my compositions, I like to think about viewpoint. I sometimes exaggerate the scale of objects. The role of color as the agent of expression, mood and emotion is important to me. My sense of gesture appears in the strokes of paint to describe a form or to fill in a shape. The strokes sometimes
become an abstract kind of writing. This abstract writing stands in for the idea of spirit, which transcends words and appears everywhere. These stylistic concerns add to the energy, immediacy and beauty of the piece.
There is a spiritual dimension in my pieces. I grew up in the russian orthodox church in the 1960’s. I was noticing and seeing all the icons since before I could talk. At school, in third grade, we were asked to make an image of an Indian. I guess it was around Thanksgiving. Using only a black crayon, I drew the crying Indian from the anti-littering campaign popular on TV at the time. I examine my own personal pains
and joys, losses and loves. Putting them before the world, I hope others can identify their own experiences. Spirituality and psychology are my main themes, including ecology, social justice and humanism.
I’m not a machine and my work varies as I vary, up and down; bold and celebratory, meditative and reclusive. It reflects my spiritual outlook; all things are sacred and deserving of awareness. I enjoy being a figurative artist: seeing the infinite in the embodied.
Public Viewing at The Collins Pub:
Every day, 11am - close (~9pm)
526 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk:
Thursday January 4th and February 1st 2024 from 5-10pm
Grego Rachko
In the years around 1990, I was a member of Heart to Art, a group of Seattle artists, creating art projects with AIDS patients and caregivers. This community creativity seemed a necessary activity for people in crisis. We also held ‘the Heart Show’, an annual art auction, with artworks by local artists, to raise funds for emerging AIDS services organizations around the state of Washington.
Mid-1990’s, I initiated an art program for LGBTQ youth at a drop-in center on Capitol Hill called Lambert House. In the late 1990’s and 2000’s, I shared art studio space in Pioneer Square in the fabled 619 Western Building. There was a central space that I ran as Alchemy Gallery, showing local artists on First Thursdays. I also held weekly life drawing sessions in my space for around 8 years.
CoCA ShowWalls is a show opportunity for CoCA Artist in partnership with local businesses.
