April 22 - May 27, 2023
From Ivester Contemporary:
“Ivester Contemporary is proud to announce read somewhere, a solo exhibition by Fort Worth based artist Rachel Livedalen. This newest body of paintings and prints continue the artist’s exploration of femininity through the lens of art history and popular culture, but grid and block design structures used in art history textbooks are referenced for the first time in the artist’s work as a major compositional device.
In consideration of femininity throughout western art history, Livedalen points to Greco-Roman imagery as symbolic of the beginning of western history, western beauty ideals, and patriarchal culture. She then contrasts this classical imagery with contemporary “girl” culture ephemera such as stickers, makeup palettes, or doodles popular during Livedalen’s adolescence. By combining these two counterparts in the representational history of femininity, distinctions of hierarchy and value begin to collapse into one amalgamation of visual culture.
In read somewhere, Livedalen’s interest in the infrastructure of art history, record keeping, and informational organization itself is another key component. The design structures that art history textbooks use, like image blocks, text blocks, and notations are referenced in thoughtfully placed, but abstracted rectangles. These blocks offer order, but also a sense of an unfulfilled attempt to find understanding.
Rachel Livedalen earned her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Iowa in 2014 and her BA from the University of Virginia. Rachel is currently an Associate Professor at Texas Christian University and heads the printmaking area. Her work has been supported by residencies at the Kala Art Institute, A&H Museums-Maitland, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts as well as by the artist program at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Her work has been included in exhibitions internationally in Canada and Portugal as well as the Mulvane Art Museum, the Bradbury Art Museum, and the Amarillo Museum of Art. Rachel lives and works in Fort Worth, TX.”
Reception: April 22, 2023 | 7–9 pm
916 Springdale Rd Bldg 2, Suite 107 Austin, TX 78702
Austin, 78702 Texas
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