Rachel Bidinost

Sparked by my interest in psychotherapy, my practice explores the connection between emotion and cognition. The only way to analyze this is through relationships: more specifically the relationship I have with myself and with others. I use naturalistic figuration combined with colorful, abstract forms in order to portray the overlapping existence of the conscious and the unconscious.

As a future art therapist, I am deeply intrigued with finding out the “why” behind a thought or emotion. I will trace an action back to a thought, and then to a feeling, given they are all interconnected. Bright, vibrant colors battle with dark, moody marks to represent conflicting feelings, thoughts, and emotions within the unconscious mind. Using myself as the subject matter, the work explores various topics, such as familial relations, romantic relations, loneliness, and anxiety. Within these scenes, I use distortion and manipulation in order to create a sense of tension from these internal or external conflicts. I am aware that not everyone will be able to relate to my experiences, but my goal is that they are able to relate to the universal emotions that I convey.