BIO
Heavily influenced by their upbringing in Casablanca, Morocco, Rachel Rusenko's work clashes tessellations resembling Islamic geometric patterns with organic and yielding forms found in nature. Their stream of consciousness, as depicted by their ink, projects a dreamlike quality which induces a trance-like submersion.
Rusenko has a diverse cultural background, from their birth in Paris, France, to their upbringing in Casablanca, Morocco, and Kandern, Germany. They are currently based in Portland, Oregon.
They have a fascination with the authentic expression found in various cultures. They consider themselves an outsider artist, being primarily self-taught, and exploring a unique visual style outside of established artistic norms.
Rusenko is visually inspired by the shapes, curvature, and geometry found in hand carved plaster ceilings, silver work, wood work, and mosaics; all ancestral cultural traditions highlighting Moroccan craftsmanship. Being exposed to these visual elements during 13 of their formative years laid the foundation for their signature line-work and geometric pattern art style.
Rusenko explores themes of gender and sexuality in their work. Their colorful linework abstractions are an exploration of the energetics of embodying both the masculine and feminine simultaneously.
Rusenko explores many creative mediums; primarily murals, painting, and drawing. They combine painting and drawing using acrylic paint and water based paint pens on canvas and wood panel.
They also create light-based sculptural installations, and are a musician in an ambient music project called Luneau, where they use a looper to layer abstract vocalizations paired with harmonium, and non-traditional percussive elements. Rusenko also regularly live-paints at a variety of musical events, involving ritual and pagan practices in the performance.
Rusenko has taken an active role in community building and organizing mixed use arts spaces since 2013. Their main motivation is to amplify the voices of those often overlooked; fledgling artists and musicians who have not yet acquired a following; with an emphasis on non-binary and femme individuals, outsider artists, artists of color, and disabled and houseless artists, among others. Rusenko enjoys helping young artists feel comfortable to explore and find their own unique voice and audience.
Rusenko was the Art Director at the L.A. Fort, a mixed use creative space in Los Angeles, from 2013-2014. They were the sole proprietor of Blue Before Red, an art live/work space in Los Angeles in 2016. They were a co-founder of Commons PDX, an art collective in Portland in 2020. They were a co-founder of Earth Space PDX, a creative community hub in Portland, which had a profound impact on incubating Portland’s underground culture from 2021- 2024. They organized The Womb Room, a shared feminine and non-binary art studio space located inside of Jaja PDX in 2022.
They have guest curated at ArtShare LA, Pehr Space, The Hollywood Bazaar, Original Intelligence, Soma Space, The Lloyd Center, Big Heart Gathering, and Spirit Wind Ridge. They currently guest curate art shows and live painter lineups at a variety of local community events and music festivals including The Den, The Conscious Growth Convergence, BassWitch, and Lunasa Cascadia.
Rusenko has a diverse cultural background, from their birth in Paris, France, to their upbringing in Casablanca, Morocco, and Kandern, Germany. They are currently based in Portland, Oregon.
They have a fascination with the authentic expression found in various cultures. They consider themselves an outsider artist, being primarily self-taught, and exploring a unique visual style outside of established artistic norms.
Rusenko is visually inspired by the shapes, curvature, and geometry found in hand carved plaster ceilings, silver work, wood work, and mosaics; all ancestral cultural traditions highlighting Moroccan craftsmanship. Being exposed to these visual elements during 13 of their formative years laid the foundation for their signature line-work and geometric pattern art style.
Rusenko explores themes of gender and sexuality in their work. Their colorful linework abstractions are an exploration of the energetics of embodying both the masculine and feminine simultaneously.
Rusenko explores many creative mediums; primarily murals, painting, and drawing. They combine painting and drawing using acrylic paint and water based paint pens on canvas and wood panel.
They also create light-based sculptural installations, and are a musician in an ambient music project called Luneau, where they use a looper to layer abstract vocalizations paired with harmonium, and non-traditional percussive elements. Rusenko also regularly live-paints at a variety of musical events, involving ritual and pagan practices in the performance.
Rusenko has taken an active role in community building and organizing mixed use arts spaces since 2013. Their main motivation is to amplify the voices of those often overlooked; fledgling artists and musicians who have not yet acquired a following; with an emphasis on non-binary and femme individuals, outsider artists, artists of color, and disabled and houseless artists, among others. Rusenko enjoys helping young artists feel comfortable to explore and find their own unique voice and audience.
Rusenko was the Art Director at the L.A. Fort, a mixed use creative space in Los Angeles, from 2013-2014. They were the sole proprietor of Blue Before Red, an art live/work space in Los Angeles in 2016. They were a co-founder of Commons PDX, an art collective in Portland in 2020. They were a co-founder of Earth Space PDX, a creative community hub in Portland, which had a profound impact on incubating Portland’s underground culture from 2021- 2024. They organized The Womb Room, a shared feminine and non-binary art studio space located inside of Jaja PDX in 2022.
They have guest curated at ArtShare LA, Pehr Space, The Hollywood Bazaar, Original Intelligence, Soma Space, The Lloyd Center, Big Heart Gathering, and Spirit Wind Ridge. They currently guest curate art shows and live painter lineups at a variety of local community events and music festivals including The Den, The Conscious Growth Convergence, BassWitch, and Lunasa Cascadia.
“Awake” 2022
Artist Statement
First and foremost, I believe in releasing control during the creative act. It is important to allow the art to happen of its own accord, without imposing my will upon the piece.
In my journey with abstract art, I have found that the conscious mind is often the greatest hindrance to creation. It is my goal, each time I paint, to silence the conscious or critical mind, and open a channel of communication to the subconscious awareness. This subconscious awareness includes dream states, instinct, deep emotion, and can sometimes open a connection to the collective unconscious. While allowing the art to happen of its own accord, it becomes a reflection of aspects of the self, or the collective, that we may not yet be aware of. It can bring hidden or unknown aspects to light. One example, in January of 2020, I painted a figure wearing a facial covering. Soon thereafter, with the onset of Covid, wearing a mask became a significant part of the collective awareness.
I always begin a painting session by burning Frankincense, mixed with a variety of other tree resins and plants, including Lavender, Ponderosa Pine, Cedar, Russian Sage, Palo Santo, and Copal. Each plant and tree resin serves its own energetic purpose. The Frankincense invites euphoria and encourages heightened innate intuition. It cleanses the environment, and helps to open the seer’s eyes. Lavender invites calm and clarity. Ponderosa Pine invites resilience. Cedar and Russian Sage aid in protection against negative energy. Palo Santo brings a connection to the divine. Copal has many spiritual properties, including purification, protection, and increasing balance and alignment. Burning these plants as a sacred offering lubricates my connection to the unseen dimensions, and invites in the divine. It is an important preparation that honors the wisdom of nature. To me, the creation of art is a spiritual act that connects both artist and viewer with the divine.
Once the environment has been set, with sweet smells filling the air, I begin a connection with the surface of the canvas, by closing my eyes, rubbing the surface of the canvas with my hand, and waiting for an initial shape or color to appear in my mind’s eye. This is a process of tuning out my thoughts, and opening myself to receive that which wants to come into being.
With black and white work, I start by using a black paint pen on a gessoed canvas. Often, the design begins in the center, with thicker lines creating large shapes that begin to determine the structural skeleton of the painting. Once these larger, bolder shapes are blocked out, smaller more detailed lines begin to fill the space and further carve out the dimensions of the image. It is essentially a flow state, without any pre-planning, always working intuitively. The repeating lines and patterns enhance the meditative state. These ripples cause the image to vibrate, seeming to move of its own accord.
With color work, I begin with my largest brush, and tap into the color of emotion present. Sometimes this will be one flat color, sometimes a monochromatic gradient, and sometimes swirls of several colors with a wet on wet blending technique. The shapes that arise in the color may inform the shapes of the black linework that appears next. When mixing acrylic paint and water based paint pens, it is important to allow each layer to dry before applying more coats. This becomes a back and forth process of creating shapes with lines, shading the shapes with color gradients or flat color fields, and then going back over those shapes with more detailed lines.
As someone who works with the Elder Futhark Rune Row, I will occasionally place bindrunes on the surface of the painting. A bindrune is a visual way to invite specific energies. Each rune holds it’s own lore and significance. This ancient alphabet is a way to convey greater meanings with small glyphs.
There are 24 runes. I most often work with:
Lagu, signifying water, renewal, and flow.
Algiz, signifying gentle protection.
Inguz, signifying the seed, from gestation to plant growth.
Raidho, signifying a journey, evolution.
Kennaz, signifying vision, creativity, and inspiration.
Mannaz, representing the higher self.
Once the painting is well under way, it becomes even more important to remain open to listening to the painting, to determine when it is finished, and avoid over complicating the surface. Often the tiniest details will be the last finishing touch; sometimes a very subtle color shading, or a pointillist approach to shading with dots.
The realization of a painting, start to finish, could happen all in one sitting, or over the course of months or years. I finish a painting by blacking out the edges, and sealing it with a clear coat of semi-gloss spray paint, which deepens the saturation of the colors, and darkens the blacks.
In my journey with abstract art, I have found that the conscious mind is often the greatest hindrance to creation. It is my goal, each time I paint, to silence the conscious or critical mind, and open a channel of communication to the subconscious awareness. This subconscious awareness includes dream states, instinct, deep emotion, and can sometimes open a connection to the collective unconscious. While allowing the art to happen of its own accord, it becomes a reflection of aspects of the self, or the collective, that we may not yet be aware of. It can bring hidden or unknown aspects to light. One example, in January of 2020, I painted a figure wearing a facial covering. Soon thereafter, with the onset of Covid, wearing a mask became a significant part of the collective awareness.
I always begin a painting session by burning Frankincense, mixed with a variety of other tree resins and plants, including Lavender, Ponderosa Pine, Cedar, Russian Sage, Palo Santo, and Copal. Each plant and tree resin serves its own energetic purpose. The Frankincense invites euphoria and encourages heightened innate intuition. It cleanses the environment, and helps to open the seer’s eyes. Lavender invites calm and clarity. Ponderosa Pine invites resilience. Cedar and Russian Sage aid in protection against negative energy. Palo Santo brings a connection to the divine. Copal has many spiritual properties, including purification, protection, and increasing balance and alignment. Burning these plants as a sacred offering lubricates my connection to the unseen dimensions, and invites in the divine. It is an important preparation that honors the wisdom of nature. To me, the creation of art is a spiritual act that connects both artist and viewer with the divine.
Once the environment has been set, with sweet smells filling the air, I begin a connection with the surface of the canvas, by closing my eyes, rubbing the surface of the canvas with my hand, and waiting for an initial shape or color to appear in my mind’s eye. This is a process of tuning out my thoughts, and opening myself to receive that which wants to come into being.
With black and white work, I start by using a black paint pen on a gessoed canvas. Often, the design begins in the center, with thicker lines creating large shapes that begin to determine the structural skeleton of the painting. Once these larger, bolder shapes are blocked out, smaller more detailed lines begin to fill the space and further carve out the dimensions of the image. It is essentially a flow state, without any pre-planning, always working intuitively. The repeating lines and patterns enhance the meditative state. These ripples cause the image to vibrate, seeming to move of its own accord.
With color work, I begin with my largest brush, and tap into the color of emotion present. Sometimes this will be one flat color, sometimes a monochromatic gradient, and sometimes swirls of several colors with a wet on wet blending technique. The shapes that arise in the color may inform the shapes of the black linework that appears next. When mixing acrylic paint and water based paint pens, it is important to allow each layer to dry before applying more coats. This becomes a back and forth process of creating shapes with lines, shading the shapes with color gradients or flat color fields, and then going back over those shapes with more detailed lines.
As someone who works with the Elder Futhark Rune Row, I will occasionally place bindrunes on the surface of the painting. A bindrune is a visual way to invite specific energies. Each rune holds it’s own lore and significance. This ancient alphabet is a way to convey greater meanings with small glyphs.
There are 24 runes. I most often work with:
Lagu, signifying water, renewal, and flow.
Algiz, signifying gentle protection.
Inguz, signifying the seed, from gestation to plant growth.
Raidho, signifying a journey, evolution.
Kennaz, signifying vision, creativity, and inspiration.
Mannaz, representing the higher self.
Once the painting is well under way, it becomes even more important to remain open to listening to the painting, to determine when it is finished, and avoid over complicating the surface. Often the tiniest details will be the last finishing touch; sometimes a very subtle color shading, or a pointillist approach to shading with dots.
The realization of a painting, start to finish, could happen all in one sitting, or over the course of months or years. I finish a painting by blacking out the edges, and sealing it with a clear coat of semi-gloss spray paint, which deepens the saturation of the colors, and darkens the blacks.
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