Rachael Zur in "Artifacts of Affection"
By ASHLEY GIFFORD
Leaving a loudly air-conditioned car and quickly stepping out onto the heated concrete street, I was greeted by Rachael Zur at the entrance of Gallery 114, a space tucked alongside other retail entrances on NW Glisan. This is a new gallery space for Art & About, which is a welcome but not wholly atypical experience for us. Art spaces have been closed for some time amidst the COVID-19 health crisis, and are only now starting to open their doors to the public or by appointment, implementing important safety protocols that ensure safe viewing.
Zur is welcoming as she guides us down the stairs into the gallery space to the exhibition Artifacts of Affection, which is in the basement of the building. Immediately recognizing that there are no windows in the gallery space, and all the lighting is artificial and tungsten as it gleams off the gallery walls. However, this works to benefit the artist’s installation, where there would be windows, are instead works of art.
Zur insists that the work on the wall are paintings, something that I didn’t initially consider when I saw the work both online and in person. I had considered them more like wall sculptures of sorts since the material seemed to be an unidentifiable combination of both ceramic, plaster, and resin. This is in part because of my own personal experience with ceramics and sculptures, and alongside the other sculptural elements in the show, I read it more as sculptural work. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the works do read as paintings, with their negative reflections carefully painted on the walls as an echo. In addition to how they are hung, they read as paintings from a viewer’s perspective. I immediately contemplate how we as viewers bring so much to how we perceive artworks and the artist’s intentions.
Zur shares a bit about her experience at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and how she was able to have her top picks as a mentor during her studies—Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Kristan Kennedy.
The works in Artifacts of Affection deal with ideas of people that are no longer with us, and the objects they leave behind in relation to their own lives. This is felt in ways that the work is created and the symbols that are reoccurring in the work—body parts like hands and lungs are situated alongside living room furniture like sofas and lamps—emblematic of interior memories impressed within the space. With these and the varied materials Zur uses to execute this work, it all plays into a feeling of loss, and also memory; how sometimes what we remember can be complicated by our own experiences, perceptions, and egos.
This exhibition is on view in conjunction with Zur’s receiving of her MFA; but it also feels like work that embodies this current moment in our collective history, as we all are remembering and grieving a loss in some sense of our changed daily lives and find ourselves at home now more than ever.
Rachael Zur’s painting and sculptures in "Artifacts of Affection" at Gallery 114, August, 15, 2020.
Ashley Gifford is a photographer, writer, and curator based in Portland, Oregon, originally from Honolulu, Hawaii. She has written for Art Practical, Oregon Arts Watch, and Journal, among other publications. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Art & About.
