Johanna Baruch

Johanna Baruch paints the cosmos, and her paintings carry us to the great beyond. Through her deft artistic skill, the viewer is transported to the magical realm of outer space. She begins her process by looking at the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope images for inspiration. Her paintings are not exact literal representations of the images beamed back to us from these orbiting telescopes but rather painterly interpretations of those images. She paints in oil on aluminum panels, applying multiple layers of glazes, creating kaleidoscopic compositions that emanate light and energy. She unleashes her creativity on her large metal panels and, with a fluidity of paint reminiscent of the motion of dance, guides the viewer into the essence of these interstellar spaces. Baruch states: “The Hubble and James Webb have brought us the miracle and astonishing beauty of the cosmos. I feel this is such a gift.  I allow them to open and lead me through my inner landscape, connecting me and, hopefully, the viewer, to the above as it is below, to the within as it is without, and to the beauty and mystery of our planet and us, as part of this magnificent cosmos.”

Trained in dance and classical painting techniques and steeped in the study of Jungian philosophy, Baruch intermixes all her passions to bring the vast cosmos/universe into focus and remind us of the great forces that bind us all together. Raised in New York City, Johanna studied at the Art Students League, and after moving to California, at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and SF State University.  She traveled to France to study Plein Air painting, and took workshops in the Old Masters Technique, which now informs her current work. Her art is held in galleries and museums around the nation and in private and corporate collections. Her family divides their time between San Francisco and Inverness.