November 30 - January 11, 2025
From Ivester Contemporary:
“Ivester Contemporary is proud to announce “Love and Gravity,” Rachel Wolfson Smith’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. This exhibition features expressive graphite drawings and cyanotypes created during a pivotal time in the artist’s life while raising young children. These works reflect upon the universal yet deeply personal experience of caregiving. Through layered marks and imagined landscapes, “Love and Gravity” invites viewers into Smith’s exploration of growth, transformation, and balance. The exhibition will be on view from November 30 to January 11.
“Since becoming a mother to two small children, I have been pulled by two loves: my love for my family and my love for my work. The drawings and cyanotypes in this exhibition were made at a critical point in my life and career, while my children are young. The opportunity afforded by this moment–of being pulled in multiple directions of motherhood and womanhood, but grounded by my work–is fleeting. The accumulation of marks and erasures on the paper represents the invisible care, decisions, and support women have provided throughout history, and my connection to it today.
The caregiving experience is universal and yet uniquely personal for anyone undertaking it. The collection of works in Love & Gravity reflects an inner evolution during a time when my needs have temporarily taken a backseat to those I care for. These landscapes took form as safe spaces where my experiences could unfold and be processed, resulting in lush imagined environments. In them I reconnected to the rhythms of labor, rested in the spaces which took form, and navigated my way out when ready. Each piece explores different stages of this evolution—holding on, letting go, and the joy of creating something beautiful.
Just as a caterpillar may believe that closing up its cocoon is the end, there has been a poetic element in thinking I’m loosing myself, only to realize this is transformation. A softening emerged both within myself and my artwork, revealing a new form of strength, nourishment, and connection.” -Rachel Wolfson Smith
Rachel Wolfson Smith is an American artist best known for creating monumental graphite drawings of landscapes which visualize the emotional worlds of women. Her drawings and cyanotypes can be found in public and private collections, from Google to artist Kiki Smith, and have been exhibited at galleries and institutions globally including The Contemporary Austin Jones Center (TX), The Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art (CA,) and Galerie Visavu (Netherlands.) The catalog from her solo exhibition The Future Is Behind Us at Women & Their Work (TX) is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY.) She is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and has been invited to participate in residencies at The Drents Museum (Netherlands,) 100W Corsicana (TX), and The Contemporary Austin’s Crit Group (TX.) Smith’s work has been featured in publications such as Designmilk, Iron & Air, Sightlines, and Glasstire. She is represented by Ivester Contemporary in Austin, TX, and holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from Indiana University. Originally from Baltimore, MD, Smith is inspired by the integration of people and nature and in urban areas. She lives in Amsterdam with her husband and two young children.”
Reception: November 30, 2024 | 7–9 pm
916 Springdale Rd Bldg 2, Suite 107 Austin, TX 78702
Austin, 78702 Texas
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