Chris Rackley: Life As A Mall Brat Artist Reception at Kolman & Reeb, Sept. 23
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 4:20AM
Chris Rackley: Life As A Mall Brat - A Kolman & Reeb Gallery Project Space Exhibition
Visitors have a chance to step into the art of Chris Rackley at the Kolman & Reeb Gallery during the gallery’s current Project Space grant exhibition, Life As A Mall Brat.
Spending a large part of his youth at a shopping mall where his father managed a shoe store, Chris Rackley is a self-proclaimed mall "brat." On days when not in school, Rackley spent his time at the mall sketching, reading, and exploring; curiously comparing what we experience as shoppers with the hidden inner workings of the retail meccas. From these unique and humble beginnings, Rackley examines the inaccuracy of memories with how we perceive them as truths.
Rackley uses drawings, sculptures, and an interactive video to explore his memories of a shopping mall in Duluth, Georgia. Rackley recreates miniature versions of architectural elements of the mall—a place he wandered every day for ten years in the 1980s. These recognizable facades and embellishments are presented at different scales relative to one another, emulating the way memory can be fragmented and accompanied by a longing to reconstruct significant moments from the past.
You Are Always Here by Chris Rackley
From miniature replicas of lost toys and misplaced trash as bits and pieces of memory, Rackley has opened his mind to expose a childhood of experiences, immortalizing a shopping mall from a young boy's perspective as though daring us to go back into this precious place of youth in our own minds.
"People visiting the gallery will have a chance to step into Chris' art, and that's really what interests me most about his show," says Anita Sue Kolman, Kolman & Reeb Gallery co-founder and co-partner. "With the resources he received from our Project Space grant, Chris used a variety of materials and mediums to create so many interesting pieces."
Jodi Reeb, gallery curator and co-partner, comments, "We are excited to bring this exhibition to the gallery, which features Chris' memories as drawings, sculptures, and an interactive video, where he explores his childhood at the mall that he wandered for ten years."
Rackley received his BA in Studio Art from Davidson College and his MFA in Painting from George Mason University. Rackley’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Rackley currently lives and works in Rochester, MN.
Kolman & Reeb Gallery is in Studio 395, Northrup King Building at 1500 Jackson Street NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. For more information, please visit: kolmanreebgallery.com or call 612-385-4239.
