Rachel Mason : Still Legends
January 14 – February 12, 2005; Opening Friday, January 14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jessica Murray Projects is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition of work by Rachel Mason. Titled Still Legends, this exhibition will open Friday, January 14, 2005 with a reception from 6 – 8 pm and will run through February 19th. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11 – 6 pm.

Rachel Mason investigates political, scientific and historical systems through her handcrafted sculptures, video, and drawings. Inspired by classical forms of political art – the bust, anthem, and portrait – Mason re-imagines these art historical models of power, replacing their impenetrable quality with a personal expressionistic physicality. The preservation of her historical conceits reveals an insightful and absurdist character. Mason explains: ”I am interested in the way the objects contain their precisely determined instant, as in, the moment of kissing, the moment of singing, the moment of transaction, and the viewer is inside the field of space to experience at length what cannot be stared at in most instances in the world.”

In Chiefs of State, Mason hand-sculpts 191 world leaders out of polymer clay. Her figures, dressed in black choir robes, stand open-mouthed in orchestrated rows. The viewer finds herself absorbed by the unique sensitively rendered quality of each figure’s distinctive face. Creating each doll-sized figure by hand, Mason returns the individual to the monolithic political paradigm of a United Nations. The gesture expressed by the members united in song against the sculpture’s silence dramatizes the current political climate – its irrationality and restricted potential for humor.

Receipts, a suite of six hand-colored pencil drawings each inscribed “Sold to” [Donald Rumsfeld, Ariel Sharon, Prince Abdullah to name a few] are rendered in decorative fonts from teen culture. Framing the receipts, the artist preserves a fictional record of transactions without explanation. Both official and handmade, this work explores the incomplete information that is broadcast to the public.

Rachel Mason was born in Los Angeles in 1978 and received her BA from UCLA (2001) and her MFA in Sculpture from Yale University (2004). Her work has been presented in exhibitions at Jessica Murray Projects, New York, NY; Parlour Projects, Brooklyn, NY; Sandroni Rey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, and as part of Martha Rosler's contribution to the Venice Biennial (2003). Her work has been reviewed by the Los Angeles Times; New York Times; and Artforum. Mason lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

For more information, please contact the gallery at 212 633 9606 or info@jessicamurrayprojects.com.

For information about Jessica Murray Projects, current or previous exhibitions, or artists represented, please contact us at +01-212-633-9606.

Further details are available in Gallery Information.