Beyond the Hedges

Beyond the Hedges (2024) is an exhibition of nearly 30 works including large-scale oil paintings, mixed-media collages, and works on paper that combine printed photographs, painting, advertising, and other mixed media to create heavily layered canvases featuring hyper-real environments rendered in lush and tropical tones. 

The COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuing lockdowns, brought unprecedented changes to the lives of people worldwide and catalyzed feelings of isolation, fear, and uncertainty. Responding to her own surroundings in Florida, artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian began experimenting with painting hedges and foliage, creating large-scale depictions of individuals and couples in outdoor pool and garden settings as well as images of women’s robes disappearing into the flora and fauna of their backgrounds.

These works offer a reflection of how individuals have become disconnected from the world and one another, trapped in a cycle of consumption, synthetic substitutions, and desire surrounded symbolically by luxurious hedges and plantings. The impenetrable protective hedges are a barrier between a synthetic paradise and the outside world. The stark pool and pool house areas surrounded by hedges, serve as a symbol of restraint and captivity. The hedges also symbolize how power shapes our social interactions, creating a sense of separation and distance between those with access to the pool or garden and those without access. The repetitive green foliage that initially appears inviting and beautiful, eventually comes to represent the very problem it portends to hide, reinforcing the isolation and confinement that continues following the pandemic’s extreme challenges.