The colors of Rachel Loyacono
A young artist based in New Orleans, Rachel Loyacono is making her colorful mark well beyond the borders of Louisiana.
Growing up in a family of makers and artists, it’s no surprise that artist Rachel Loyacono delved into the art world as well. She developed her innate talent and natural artistic inclination with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Southern Mississippi. Since graduating a few years ago, her work has been catching the eye of art enthusiasts.
While feeling as if she was thrust into the world with no instructions on how to make a career out of her creative talent, she has done just that. Undeterred by any lack of guidance, Rachel paved her own way. She began by teaching art during the day and as the sun set, made her own paintings in the evenings. Having an artistic hand matched by a can-do spirit, Rachel herself reached out to places in New Orleans that she felt would be a good fit for her art. Now, with a solo show already under her belt, her paintings are a revelation of the world around her and of the people in it, through her own eyes. What’s more, but just as compellingly, her paintings are also a revelation of her own self as an artist.
Gaining a better understanding of just how vital everyday inspiration is, especially for artists, it’s with a sense of pride that we have worked with Rachel on her latest creations, with the brand’s designs serving as inspiration for her new works of art. Having earnest romanticism infused in Rachel’s vivid brushstrokes, hers was the ideal artistic hand to collaborate with and capture the spirit of our collections.
"Tropical Ece", 2020
www.rachel-loyacono.com
The brilliant colors and striking textures found in our tradition-inspired designs are an ideal complement to Rachel’s own expressive and highly colored aesthetic. “In my work, one thing in particular that I’m really interested in is the interaction of color.", she says. "I used the color palettes found in MARCH11 pieces as a starting point for these two new paintings. In some garments, the colors really seem to glow and that’s a quality that I’ve also always tried to capture in paint.”
It was almost natural for Rachel to take the bold patterns and rich imagery of our pieces and transform them as compositional elements in her paintings. These were enhanced by the sub-tropical setting that she created by looking at what was around her in New Orleans – the banana leaves outside her studio window, the stem of a hibiscus and the branches of the fig tree in her backyard. The collaboration brings a certain sense of art imitating life, particularly represented by the clothing people wear as they go about their day to day lives, in a pure, honest and beautiful form.
Rachel’s brushstrokes and use of color in the paintings movingly convey the strength, playfulness and femininity of the MARCH11 spirit. While, of course, also embodying the spirit of the women who wear our designs as they live their own colorful and exciting lives.
"Hibiscus and Figs", 2020
www.rachel-loyacono.com