Testing: Rachel Uffner, New York
304.8 x 1066.8 cm
Sara Greenberger Rafferty Testing
September 12 - October 28, 2018
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 12, 6 - 8pm
Rachel Uffner Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Sara Greenberger Rafferty. For her fifth solo show with the gallery, Rafferty has created a suite of works in kiln-formed glass - a new process and medium for the artist. Using a limited palette, Rafferty's glass works function as image, screen, and material. They are transparent and translucent images formed and deformed by the kiln's metamorphic heat and the intrinsic properties of glass.
Rachel Uffner Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Sara Greenberger Rafferty. For her fifth solo show with the gallery, Rafferty has created a suite of works in kiln-formed glass - a new process and medium for the artist. Using a limited palette, Rafferty's glass works function as image, screen, and material. They are transparent and translucent images formed and deformed by the kiln's metamorphic heat and the intrinsic properties of glass.
Much of the exhibition's imagery is pulled from archival, stock, and discarded commercial film, primarily purchased via eBay. These include scans of negative and positive film, both in color and black and white, representing photographic exercises by teachers and students alike, along with orphaned promotional imagery of the pre-digital era. In addition, Rafferty references tools of vision, perception, and physical sensation. Iconography of body parts, a magnifying glass, books, and toys are layered and, in some cases, obscured in the process.
Testing, a word that the artist has used for individual artwork titles in the past, implies preparation and trepidation: of the microphone check of the stand-up comic, the rock and roll frontman (or the Queen of Soul); of the pedagogical examination of a student; of the diagnostic tool searching for an explanation; of the misfit - or even just a child - trying to define boundaries and lines of transgression, alternately failing and succeeding with each step.
Sara Greenberger Rafferty has exhibited widely since 2001, including solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1, New York; The Kitchen, New York; Eli Marsh Gallery at Amherst College, Massachusetts; Fine Arts Center Gallery at University of Arkansas; and a commissioned sculpture for the Public Art Fund. Gloves Off, the first traveling survey of her work with accompanying fully illustrated catalogue published by SUNY Press, completed a three-venue tour last year.
The artist was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial and the 2014 Hammer Biennial in addition to group shows at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Oregon; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California; and The Jewish Museum, New York, among many others. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Rafferty is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Photography at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
The artist would like to thank:
Becca Albee
Daniel Lefcourt
David Kennedy Cutler
Dorie Guthrie
Emmanuel Castillo
Fe Carvalho
Kyle Rafferty
Matt Keegan
Miranda Lichtenstein
Oscar Bedford
Rachel Uffner Gallery
Ryan Blackburn
Sayre Harvell
Urban Glass
Wingate Studio
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Untitled, 2018Inkjet printed vinyl with grommets120 x 420 inches
304.8 x 1066.8 cm -
Cut Spec, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass with sandblasting and enamel19 x 15 1/4 x 1/4 inches
48.3 x 38.7 x 0.6 cm -
Toy (Advertising Film), 2018Gelatin silver print20 x 16 in
50.8 x 40.6 cm -
Table of Contents, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass19 7/8 x 16 1/4 x 1/4 in
50.5 x 41.3 x 0.6 cm -
Green &, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass20 x 17 x ¼ inches (50.8 x 43.2 x 0.6 cm)
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Positive, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass19 1/8 x 17 1/2 x 1/4 inches
48.6 x 43.2 x 0.6 cm -
Interior (University of Michigan Extension), 2018Direct substrate print on thin-type ballistic and bullet-resistant plastic15 7/8 x 19 7/8 x 1/4 inches
40.3 x 50.5 x 0.6 cm -
Picture (Help by Lanvin), 2018Gelatin silver print20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
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Working in Different Occupations, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass with sandblasting and enamel16 3/8 x 20 x 1/4 inches (41.4 x 50.8 x 0.6 cm)
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Slide (University of Michigan Extension), 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass19 7/8 x 16 1/16 x 1/4 inches (50.5 x 41.3 x 0.4 cm)
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Broken, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass20 x 16 x 1/4 inches
50.8 x 40.6 x 0.6 cm -
Lighting Lesson (University of Michigan Extension), 2018Fused glass20 x 16 x 1/8 inches
50.8 x 40.6 x 0.3 cm -
The Law, 2018Fused glass with sandblasting and enamel20 x 16 ¼ x 1/8 inches (50.8 x 41.3 x 0.8 cm)
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Zip and Test, 2018Fused glass and gelatin silver print20 x 16 x 1/8 inches; (50.8 x 40.6 x 0.3 cm)
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Her Taxes, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass20 x 16 x 1/4 inches
50.8 x 40.6 x 0.6 cm -
Exterior (University of Michigan Extension), 2018Direct substrate print on thin-type ballistic and bullet-resistant plastic19 7/8 x 15 7/8 x 1/2 inches
50.3 x 40.2 x 1.3 cm -
Sheet, 2018Fused glass20 x 16 3/8 x ¼ inches (50.8 x 41.6 x 0.6 cm)
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Research, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass19 7/8 x 16 ¼ x ¼ inches (50.5 x 41.3 x 0.6 cm)
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Split Spec, 2018Fused and kiln-formed glass19 7/8 x 16 1/16 x 3/8 inches (50.5 x 40.8 x 1 cm)
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Two Chicagos, 2018Gelatin silver print20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Press Release
Sara Greenberger Rafferty Testing
September 12 - October 28, 2018
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 12, 6 - 8pm
Rachel Uffner Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Sara Greenberger Rafferty. For her fifth solo show with the gallery, Rafferty has created a suite of works in kiln-formed glass - a new process and medium for the artist. Using a limited palette, Rafferty's glass works function as image, screen, and material. They are transparent and translucent images formed and deformed by the kiln's metamorphic heat and the intrinsic properties of glass.
Much of the exhibition's imagery is pulled from archival, stock, and discarded commercial film, primarily purchased via eBay. These include scans of negative and positive film, both in color and black and white, representing photographic exercises by teachers and students alike, along with orphaned promotional imagery of the pre-digital era. In addition, Rafferty references tools of vision, perception, and physical sensation. Iconography of body parts, a magnifying glass, books, and toys are layered and, in some cases, obscured in the process.
Testing, a word that the artist has used for individual artwork titles in the past, implies preparation and trepidation: of the microphone check of the stand-up comic, the rock and roll frontman (or the Queen of Soul); of the pedagogical examination of a student; of the diagnostic tool searching for an explanation; of the misfit - or even just a child - trying to define boundaries and lines of transgression, alternately failing and succeeding with each step.
Sara Greenberger Rafferty has exhibited widely since 2001, including solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1, New York; The Kitchen, New York; Eli Marsh Gallery at Amherst College, Massachusetts; Fine Arts Center Gallery at University of Arkansas; and a commissioned sculpture for the Public Art Fund. Gloves Off, the first traveling survey of her work with accompanying fully illustrated catalogue published by SUNY Press, completed a three-venue tour last year.
The artist was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial and the 2014 Hammer Biennial in addition to group shows at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Oregon; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California; and The Jewish Museum, New York, among many others. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Rafferty is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Photography at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
The artist would like to thank:
Becca Albee
Daniel Lefcourt
David Kennedy Cutler
Dorie Guthrie
Emmanuel Castillo
Fe Carvalho
Kyle Rafferty
Matt Keegan
Miranda Lichtenstein
Oscar Bedford
Rachel Uffner Gallery
Ryan Blackburn
Sayre Harvell
Urban Glass
Wingate Studio