The Americas Society's 1990 exhibition Beyond the Surface: Recent Works by Creus, Rabinovich, and Sutil showcased the work of three Latin American artists — Alicia Creus, Francisca Sutil, and Raquel Rabinovich — who lived and worked in New York City. Curated by Fatima Bercht, the exhibition turned away from figurative art, which was popular at the time, and instead focused on abstraction.
Rabinovich exhibited her “Chhodrtens” pieces; named after and inspired by the sacred, ancient structures of the same name that she saw during her travels to Nepal between 1987-1988. These works on paper explore the metaphysical, contemplating the parts of existence that we can neither see nor touch.
Rabinovich reflected on the moment with The Brooklyn Rail in 2014: "There were devotees, worshipers circumambulating them, so intensely present in that experience, going around and around for hours….As I observed them, I would see how they got more and more connected with something they couldn’t see. The Chhodrtens were enclosed and hermetic, and they didn’t know what was inside. I think that the connection they felt was so powerful, so wonderful, that it allowed them to have a profound spiritual experience. It’s a parallel of what happens to me in front of a work of art. I can spend hours looking at a painting and time disappears. The contemplation of art, for me, is also a very spiritual experience."
