(At Home) On Art and Everyday Life: Artist Talk with Rachel Harrison

Rachel Harrison’s work combines art historical and pop cultural references through an eclectic use of materials. Her sculptures appear at once carefully constructed and arbitrarily arranged, using humor to create an open-ended and thought-provoking experience for the viewer. These complex works often juxtapose brightly colored organic shapes with objects from every day life, such as a shopping cart, USB stick, flag, or photograph of Mel Gibson from Braveheart, highlighting the important notion that art is never separate from the world around it.

The artist will be joined in conversation by art history professor Darby English, author of the catalog essay “A Way Beyond Art” for the 2019 Whitney Museum exhibition Rachel Harrison Life Hack. Harrison and English will discuss her work Pretty Discreet, in the Hirshhorn collection, as it first appeared in the 2004 exhibition Latka/Latkas at Greene Naftali, in addition to her more recent installations.

Rachel Harrison, Pretty Discreet, 2004

ASL translation will be provided on Zoom and CART (real-time captioning) will be provided across all platforms. If you have any questions about accessibility for this program, please email hirshhornexperience@si.edu.

This virtual event is part of Talking to Our Time. the Hirshhorn’s online series of free artist talks featuring a diverse group of artists and collectives. View all events!

This event is also part of #HirshhornInsideOut, the Museum’s initiative to bring art into your home.