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Rachel Feinstein’s work is currently on view at The Bass Museum in Miami. The exhibition, entitled “The Miami Years,” brings together almost three decades of work by the incredible sculptor. Feinstein spent her childhood and formative years growing up in Miami. As we discuss, the cultural landscape of Miami in the ’70s and ’80s — which included very little fine art — played a huge factor in her approach to art making. With no weight of western art history on her shoulders, she felt free to make whatever she wanted. And she did. Her sculptures, paintings, installations, and videos, and more overwhelm the senses, tapping into themes around the feminine energy, intimacy, abjection and human connection.
Joining us from her home in New York, where she’s lived and worked since college, Rachel talks about the wilds of Miami from her childhood, her unique approach to sculpture making, the benefits of menopause on the female artists power, and so much more.
Notable Insights:
“My soul, whether I’ve been reincarnated from somewhere else or this is my new soul, I was meant to be an artist.”
“Nothing lasts, you know, but then, but then if you make great art, that seems to last, that’s what’s really wild, you know?”
“You kinda need to live a little bit before this stuff makes sense.”
“The most important thing about being an artist is this empty time, when nothing is going on, and you’re just looking at the ceiling and trying to think about what you want to do.”
“That’s the strength of the sculptor: you have to marry the form with the material. It’s not just the form. You’re making comments about what this is about through the material you’re choosing, its not just the form.”
“You have to take care of these beautiful bodies, these sculptures, in the same way that you would take care yourself.”
“Art connects people. It makes everyone realize that underneath it all, we are all having the same experience as souls, we all are here.”
“Almost all of the great female artists became successful after 50.”
“Women have to shed their biological fertility to be able to see and be seen by the world as creative people with their fertility elsewhere, through their art.”
Resources
To learn more about her show at The Bass.
To learn more about the artist via Gagosian.
