Gerri Rachins
Gerri Rachins’ paintings on paper evoke the complicated zeitgeist of our time and reveal a preoccupation with engaging with the laws of physics. Holding a sheet of paper in her hands, Rachins directs the action of acrylic ink, noticing how liquid will “attract to puddles.” When the inks dry, the resultant pattern becomes the catalyst for an underlying structure atop which more pouring, painting, and drawing occurs. With this method, Rachins creates dramatic geometric abstractions that engage with both the impact of color and gravity as well as the emotional weight of a reckoning with social, ecological, and political challenges.
The title of both the exhibition and each painting on view is drawn from a series of quotes that Rachins has culled from the Science section of The New York Times. Since a 2020 solo show at The Painting Center, where Rachins has been a member since 2016, her powerful painting practice has shifted from a preoccupation with the formal to an acceptance of the inevitable impact of the personal. “I do not know whether my day at the studio will be a sanctuary, offering me comfort, or a battlefield in which I contend with the anxiety of the times. However, I know that uncertainly offers the opportunity to explore, without the pretext of knowing where you are going.”
Gerri Rachins (b. 1955, Brookline, MA) studied at the New York Studio School while earning a BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. In 2001, she earned an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art working in painting, drawing, and printmaking. Rachins’ large-scale drawings are included in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and The Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA. Her works are held in numerous corporate and private collections in the United States and Europe including Fidelity Investments, Bain Capital, and Berkshire Partners, Boston; and Neiman Marcus, Inc., Dallas.
She is represented by Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA, who recently hosted a 20-year retrospective to celebrate their long-standing representation of her work. For nearly two decades, Rachins has been on faculty at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, where she currently teaches Color Mastery. She taught at Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston for more than a decade.
