Artist Profile Svetlana Rabey

Artist Statement

Painting for me is a dialogue with mystery, The surface upon which I make marks is the mysterious entity that I project my hopes and fears onto. This painting to be knows the answers, knows the way, knows something that I lack. I follow the surface for decisions of color and composition and pattern. The first strokes are broad and free, priming the surface for play. Then the process shifts into a game of marks I want to make, and the marks that actually appear. It is a dialogue with mystery. I don’t know and don’t plan what will happen. Abstract shapes are the result of these internal impulses made external, shapes representing themselves. Every subsequent layer of pattern is a response to this relationship strata. The goal is a synthesis where the pattern rests in a point of closure as if returning to itself.

Artist Biography

Svetlana Rabey was born in Moscow and grew up in Philadelphia and New York, studying classical dance. She has continued her interest in music, movement, and language, which informs her work as a visual artist. In 1996, she received a BFA in painting from Parsons Paris & New York. Svetlana has been awarded the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation and Chashama Harlem residency programs. She was awarded the NYFA grant for drawing in 2015. She currently lives and works in New York City. Her work has been represented by Kathryn Markel Gallery, Iliad, and Sugarlift in NYC. She lives and works in NYC.