The first time I saw a painting by Rayana Rayo, I was fascinated by the psychic dimension of this Pernambucan artist’s work. I was confronted with a series of pieces whose imagery seemed to have been part of my existence all along. I’m not speaking of signs or colors, but of atmospheres that seemed to emerge from the depths of my subconscious.

The ten paintings by Rayana Rayo presented at Travesía Cuatro’s Guadalajara space configure a series of profound and intimate self-portraits. Jung said that the only way to free ourselves from “ghosts and limitations” was to make the “unconscious conscious.” Rayana’s work nourishes and speaks to us of a deeply personal, intimate quest, while aspiring to a universal dimension, dedicated to sharing sensitive experiences linked to different levels of self-awareness, intimately connected to life.

The artist does not separate artistic practice, or “technique,” from the analysis of her own subconscious; she does this through the deconstruction of fixed archetypes and the construction of fantastic universes that, as symbols, tell stories related to her life. “More… Light,” Goethe said upon dying. Rayana directs the light, controls it: “As an artist, my art is the only thing I can control, not the rest…”

The light revealed in Rayana’s work shines in the subconscious like a beacon in the night, immersed in a hypnotic sea. From this psychic sea, her phytomorphic forms begin to take life, representing feelings and emotions. I instinctively recognize myself in them, though I do not know why. I wish Rayana could guide me into my deepest concerns; I wish to be one of her imaginary seeds and bloom in these spaces, vibrating with life thanks to her brushstrokes.

I would like to speak with her through the forms she is now showing me in her Recife studio. She has captured me from a dimension difficult to describe. The artist keeps renewing herself through an intimate vision of herself, through daily challenges that heal her vulnerabilities; she “updates” herself to discover, from time to time, the best part of herself.

“Drawing is like writing,” said Ethel Adan, the great Lebanese poet and artist. And Rayana, through rhizomatic and evocative images presented as paintings, accompanies the visitor on a profound journey, where strange dreams emerge as the fruit of dreamlike images that evoke archaic and primitive memories, perhaps hidden in our genetic memory.

Numerology comes into play here to decode symbols and mysterious presences: a kind of encrypted message that awakens connections with the animist and syncretic dimensions of indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures, linking them to the psychic sphere, daily life, and the present. Rayana does not create a painting that does not converse with herself or her current moment. She speaks of the need for dreams, of taking care of one’s health… Air, earth, and water elements build a cosmogony of emotions… Pages of an imaginary diary where mathematics and the numeric repetition become a fascinating way to read these works, emissaries of mysterious symbologies subject to the will of the artist herself.

Rayana Rayo’s work seems to propose a profound and emotional exploration of the subconscious, and of its connection to Pernambucan nature and culture.

(Text by Cristiano Raimondi)