by Robert S. Lubar

Rachel Friedberg's paintings in encaustic negotiate a symbolic passage through language and memory. Conceiving of her work as "visual poems," Friedberg constructs a multivalent language of signs and inscriptions that is drawn from her most intimate experiences. Ciphers of thought and feeling suspended in translucent wax grounds, her art explores the poetics of daily life.

Friedberg’s process of image formation is largely intuitive. "I first choose a color or combination of colors that someone or something can live in," she has explained, "a sort of fertile field where images and situations can emerge and reveal themselves. When I recognize them to be personal, my painting is finished."¹ In this process of discovery and disclosure, the artist explores the construction of the self within the domain of language.