Rachel Harrison facts for kids

Rachel Harrison (born in 1966) is an American artist. She is famous for her unique sculptures, photographs, and drawings. Her art often mixes things she makes by hand with everyday objects or photos she finds. This way, she connects ideas from art history, current events, and pop culture.

Rachel Harrison's artwork has been shown in many exhibitions across Europe and the United States. These include big events like the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial. Her pieces are also part of the collections at major museums, such as The Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate Modern in London. She lives and works in New York City.

Rachel Harrison's Early Life

Rachel Harrison was born in New York City in 1966. Her parents had Polish and Russian Jewish backgrounds. In 1989, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Wesleyan University. She first studied anthropology but later changed to fine art. There, she learned from sculptor Jeffrey Schiff and composer Alvin Lucier.

Her Art and Career

Sunday Morning (2001) by Rachel Harrison, shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2022.

Rachel Harrison's early art often used everyday materials. She would make her art fit the space where it was shown. In 1996, she had her first solo show in New York. Its long title, Should home windows or shutters be required to withstand a direct hit from an eight-foot-long two-by-four shot from a cannon at 34 miles an hour, without creating a hole big enough to let through a three-inch sphere?, came from a news article about natural disasters. For this show, she covered a room with fake wood panels, small sculptures, and photos of green trash bags.

In 2001, Harrison's exhibition Perth Amboy opened. It featured 21 photographs she took of a supposed sighting of the Virgin Mary in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The exhibition also included other art pieces. A critic from The New York Times said it was a thoughtful look at what we see and believe. The Museum of Modern Art bought Perth Amboy in 2011 and showed it in 2016.

Her 2007 exhibition, If I Did It, included ten sculptures named after famous men like Al Gore. It also had 57 photographs called Voyage of the Beagle. These photos showed many different objects, from sculptures to display mannequins. The sculptures in If I Did It mixed colorful abstract shapes with everyday items bought from stores. One art critic noted that her sculptures from this time often took cultural ideas and mixed them up in new ways. This exhibition was shown in New York, Switzerland, and Germany.

Rachel Harrison often uses references from popular culture and famous people in her art. She places these alongside ideas from art history. For example, in her 2012 exhibition The Help, her art included references to the movie Scarface and singer Amy Winehouse. She also referenced famous artists like Pablo Picasso. In 2013, she created her first public art piece in Dallas. This sculpture, called Moore to the Point, highlighted an existing sculpture by Henry Moore. Harrison's work made people think about how they interact with public art.

In 2009, the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College held Consider the Lobster. This was the first big show looking back at Harrison's work. It featured large installations, individual sculptures, and videos. The exhibition later traveled to other places with different names, like HAYCATION and Conquest of the Useless. In 2019, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a large exhibition called Rachel Harrison Life Hack. It showed over one hundred of her works from 1991 to the present day. Critics praised the show, calling it a lively and bold artwork itself.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

Rachel Harrison has had many solo exhibitions, where only her work is shown. Some of these include:

• Should home windows or shutters be required to withstand a direct hit from an eight-foot-long two-by-four shot from a cannon at 34 miles an hour, without creating a hole big enough to let through a three-inch sphere?, Arena Gallery, New York (1996)
• Perth Amboy, Greene Naftali, New York (2001)
• If I Did It, Greene Naftali, New York (2007)
• Consider the Lobster, Hessel Museum, Bard College, New York (2009)
• Conquest of the Useless, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010)
• The Help, Greene Naftali, New York (2012)
• Rachel Harrison: Perth Amboy, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2016)
• Rachel Harrison Life Hack, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019)

Group Exhibitions

Her work has also been part of many group exhibitions, alongside other artists. Some notable ones are:

• Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2002 and 2008)
• 50th Venice Biennale, Venice (2003)
• 53rd Venice Biennale, Venice (2009)
• The Original Copy: Photography of Sculptures, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010)
• Nasher Xchange, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2013)
• Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy, Met Breuer, New York (2018)

Where to See Her Art

Rachel Harrison's art is part of the permanent collections in many public museums and institutions. This means you can often see her work there. Some of these places include:

• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Tate Modern, London
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Awards and Recognition

Rachel Harrison has received several important awards for her contributions to art:

• Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (2010)
• Calder Prize and residency (2011)
• Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2015)