“I use my large collection of Mexican and Guatemalan folk art — masks, carved wooden animals, papier mâché figures, and toys — to create pastel paintings and photographs that combine reality and fantasy and depict personal narratives.

“On trips to southern Mexico and Guatemala I frequent local mask shops, markets, and bazaars searching for the figures that will later populate my pastel paintings and photographs. How, why, when, and where these objects come into my life is an important part of the process. I take very old objects with a unique Mexican or Guatemalan past—most have been used in religious festivals—and give them a second life, so to speak, in New York in the present. When I return home I read prodigiously and find out as much about them as I can.”

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2012
• HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY

2011
• HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY

2010
• HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY

2009
• “Barbara Rachko: Gods and Monsters,” H.P. Garcia Gallery, New York, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions

2012
• International Institute of Photography and the Moving Image, Madrid, Spain
• International Institute of Photography and the Moving Image, New York, NY

2011
• “Up to the Moment: Important Contributions to Early 21st Century Art History,” a museum traveling exhibition, organized by HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
• HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
• International Institute of Photography and the Moving Image, New York, NY
• Lesley Heller Workspace, New York, NY, curated by Ann Landi, contributing editor, ARTnews

2010
• HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
• “Artists for Haiti,” Contemporary Art Network, auction in support of Doctors Without Borders for Haitian earthquake relief
• “Pulp Friction,” James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
• “Past Forward,” Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA (four-person show)
• “Define: Art,” Betty Dare Art Gallery, Board of Investment Art, Chicago, IL
• “The Healing Power of Art,” the Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
• Longstreth Goldberg, Naples, FL