“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
— Dr. Carl Sagan
Artist Statement
When I first saw the photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, something profound shifted inside of me – as if I had suddenly found something I knew intimately, yet didn’t know I had lost. The pictures of deep space beckoned to me, or rather, its gravity pulled me inexorably into it. The beauty, color and movement, the astonishing science and ultimate mystery of the cosmos were like songs that called to be sung. And so I did, through paint.
I do not paint the cosmos literally, but study the science and look at the photographs until something hits me viscerally. From this place, I begin. Whether they are the spectacular images of what the telescope captures, such as swirling nebulae, stars being born, galaxies colliding or supernovae exploding; or more theoretical concepts such as black holes, dark energy, the big bang or the cosmic web, these all live as a moving force inside me that guides my paintbrush, directs my choices and brings itself to life on my panels.
Combining my studies of astronomy while painting from this place of inspiration is an alchemical process - something new is created. The cosmos is a place we all intuitively know - from our personal wonder of looking up at a starry night sky, to an ancestral recognition that we, and our planet are connected to something much greater. Echoing the blank panels I start on, I begin with a sense of vast emptiness inside me, and the act of painting creates a universe..
Bio
Johanna Baruch was born and raised in NYC where she studied at the Art Students League as well as privately before moving to California.
She earned her degree from New College of California, and continued her artistic studies during her travels to the Middle East and Europe where she learned plein air painting and the techniques of the Old Masters.
Johanna has adapted these techniques to her own working practice. She paints in oil on aluminum panels, creating luminescent surfaces through applying multiple thin layers of translucent colored glazes.
Johanna has worked in other artistic disciplines and fields which have informed her paintings today. Her earlier work with production companies, being a part of a team producing film, video and large staged events, honed her skills in understanding how to animate composition, as well as how to unfold a story as she captures a moment in a much larger drama.
While continuing to paint, Johanna also developed a career as a middle eastern dancer —dancing professionally in nightclubs accompanied by live musicians. This embodied knowledge of music, rhythm and dance, of riding waves and staccatos, the quiet and forceful, and the transitions between them is as inherent in visual compositions as in any time-based medium.
Johanna has been a life-long student of the psychologist Carl Jung’s teachings. Her acknowledgement of the reality of the psyche, her understanding of symbology and mark making, her explorations into the unconscious and her embrace of the greater mystery are suffused in her work, giving them dimension, breadth and depth.
Johanna has exhibited nationally in galleries and museums. Her work is represented internationally in private and corporate collections. She serves on the Board of Governors of the C. G. Jung Institute of SF, is a former trustee of the California College of the Arts and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and former committee member of the SFMOMA Accessions Committee.
She currently splits her time between San Francisco and Inverness, CA.