Biography

MFA, Sculpture, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University
BFA, Fine Arts, College for Creative Studies

Rachel White MFA. Adjunct Professor of Fine Arts in the College of the Arts is a studio-based artist producing abstract works in paint on canvas and paper. Parallel to her studio practice and prior to teaching at the University of Florida she held numerous positions in the New York City luxury cosmetics advertising agencies, such as Global Director of Image Reproduction at Clinique, and Global Director of Creative Operations at Lancome, YSL, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, and Tom Ford Beauty among other brands. Rachel is the recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Ox-Bow School of Art Residency and Art on the Move, Art Residency in Detroit. She continues to exhibit her works on linen and paper. Her work can be found in international collections of art from Milan, London, Harare to Casa De Campo, Dominican Republic.

Rachel focused on large scale sculptural installation work, printmaking and digital media while earning her MFA degree in Sculpture from Alfred University. These endeavors have had a lasting effect on her studio practice and professional career in advertising. During her tenure in advertising, Rachel continued explore the printed image, as her responsibility was largely dealing with retouching and the preparation of luxury imagery for in-store promotions, print advertising or online promotions. 

Her wide, transparent, layered strokes on linen allude to the familiar half-tone printed dot patterns as they build chromatic spaces and fields of color. The spaces float upon deep earthy color combinations steeped in nostalgia. The paintings evoke pleasure, delight and optimism. Upon a closer look there appears a dichotomous yet balanced presence: a dimensional, dreamlike abstraction beholding a form of solitude and apprehension that lays beneath the surface. This balance provides the viewer an opportunity to bask in a prismatic play of color and emotion.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My paintings begin with a color or combination I cannot get out of my mind, a “color impression”. The process is very physical: building the composition using wide blades to lay down fields of color, I then disrupt them with contrary brilliant hues. The paint strokes, hues and intensities take me on a journey, mining my internal dialogue. The transparent layers float upon one another as a dimensional, chromatic space forms upon the linen and my imagination flows into the dream. Despite the fantasy, the smooth layers of color reveal the linen fabric’s color tinged grain, alluding a commercially printed dot pattern. I find the dots return my awareness to reality, to logic, to process.