Rachel Harrison: Sitting in a Room

The work of Rachel Harrison is both the zestiest and the least digestible in contemporary art. It may also be the most important. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker Sitting in a Room highlights the recent work of New Yorkbased artist Rachel Harrison (born 1966), who takes a porous, hybrid approach to objects both made and found. Spanning mediums that include sculpture, drawing, photography and painting, Harrisons nimble, layered method has always escaped easy categorization. Abstraction is shot through with vernacular references to jarring, often comic effect, as formalist concerns are forced to vie with rogue elements from the outside world. Published in conjunction with her exhibition at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, this volumewhich takes its name from a seminal work of sound art by Alvin Lucierdocuments the shows distinctive format, with each gallery conceived as a specific room. From Sculpture Court to Town Square, Gym, Living Room and Cabinet, the exhibition places the viewer in contexts both intimate and public, and the original essays commissioned here expand and deepen those trajectories. Designed by Joseph Logan in close collaboration with the artist, this richly illustrated volume includes Harrison's own photography of Sitting in a Room and reflects her unique approach to the making of both exhibitions and the catalogs that outlast them.