RASCH

Jody Rasch is represented by LAMINAproject

For further information, contact info@laminaproject.com

To purchase works, visit LAMINAproject on Artsy.

Artist's Statement

J.D. Rasch

Awe is about our connection to the profound mysteries of existence. As Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, puts it, “[awe is] the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.” [1]

I want this feeling, something that can elevate my understanding, something spiritual. once believed religion was the answers, but the more I delved into its teachings, the less meaning I found. My search for meaning continued, and I found it in unexpected realms – the metaphors ofscience, from quantum physics and general relativity to radio astronomy and biology. The ideas the revealed, such as the relatively of time, quantum realityand the images that reveal biology at the most fundamental levels was thephilosophy I was looking for. It gave me a feeling of transcendence, of beingpart of something that was greater than myself. I wanted to find a way not onlyto express this feeling, but to immerse myself in it. That’s when I combinedpainting with science.

Using traditional media didn’t seemenough to create the feeling I was looking for so I started working in three dimensions incorporating materialssuch aluminum mesh, armature wire, poured paint and combining painting and photographictechniques. The materials added an element of chance andunpredictability to the works, which mirrors the “uncertainty” principle inscience. When the acrylic paint is poured it takes on the characteristics andflaws of what it is poured onto. The pour flows into a shape that is not possibleto totally control and the side of the pour that is in contact with an underlyingplastic sheet is even more random. However, the two sides work together andinfluence each other - are in some way entangled. Even though the two sides ofmy paintings are separate, they still influence the other.

In other pieces, I combinetechniques using pointillism and spray painting to mirror the way many of theimages are created by scientific devices. The pointillist techniques and the fineaerosol spray from the spray can mirror the process used by telescopes whichbuild images dot by dot.

Even the repetitive nature of working on the images, sometime repeating small dots over and over and other times working on the same image, but with different materials, is a contemplative process gives me the feeling of awe, of transcending myself. It also mirrors the scientific process of experimentation.

Hopefully, others will connect with my work and understand the awe that I feel. As Einstein told us, “Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better.” [2]

[1] Keltner, Dacher. Awe: The New Science Of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life, Penguin Press, New York 2023, p. 7-8

[2] To Margot Einstein, after his sister's Maja's death, 1951; quote by Hanna Loewy in A&E Television Einstein Biography, VPI International, 1991.

MFA Thesis