A native of New Haven, CT, Rachel Dalnekoff has lived in many cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, Israel, and Rome. She currently resides in New York City. Rachel received a master of fine arts degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and she has taught courses in art history, drawing and design at many institutions, including CT State University in Willimantic, CT and Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.

The imagery in Rachel’s paintings is derived mostly from magazine and newspaper photographs. The photographs serve merely as points of departure; their images are often completely reinvented on canvas and given new meaning. Rachel’s artwork combines both realistic and surreal aspects; it is a hybrid of direct observation and painterly invention. In her paintings, fantasy and reality intersect; the ordinary and the bizarre are interwoven.

Education

2003 M.F.A., Painting, Tyler School of Art, Temple University , Elkins Park , PA
2002 Temple University Abroad, Rome , Italy
2000 B.F.A., Painting, Magna Cum Laude, Boston University , Boston , MA

Selected Exhibitions

2005 White Space Gallery, New Haven , CT
2003 Artspace Gallery, New Haven , CT
2003 Temple University Gallery, Philadelphia , PA
2002 Temple University Gallery, Rome , Italy
2000 Boston University Gallery, Boston , MA

Honors and Awards

2000 Boston University Merit Scholarship
2003 Tyler School of Art Teaching Fellowship

Career Related Experience

2005 Instructor of Drawing and Design, Sacred Heart University , Fairfield , CT
2004 Instructor of Drawing, Eastern CT State University , Willimantic , CT
2003 Instructor of Art History, Hussian School of Art, Philadelphia , PA

Artists Statement

My paintings depict situations that are bizarre and enigmatic. The strangeness of these scenes results from the intersection of fantasy and reality. I combine representational imagery derived from photographs with fantastical elements drawn from my imagination. 

Nature dominates in most of my paintings.  People appear in solitude; they are encompassed by their environment and surrounded by large expanses of water, land and sky. The individuals in these scenes are lone travellers and escapists on the brink of existential crisis. They engage in strange, ambiguous activities, and the viewer is left to ponder their meaning