Hutchinson Art Gallery
The Art Gallery is located adjacent to Commons.
For more information contact:
Andrew Nordin
andrew.nordin@ridgewater.edu
Chris Rackley – There is No Conflict
Hutchinson Campus, until December 21st, 2018
Willmar Campus, January 14th – February 15th, 2019
Chris Rackley presents “There is no conflict” on the Hutchinson campus until December 21st. Large graphite drawings accentuate the video projection and Tv multi-media installation in Which Rackley is playing with ideas about the psyche and self, by using the story of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from the Empire Strikes Back, of Star Wars lore. See for yourself the incredible detail and precision in which he presents these narratives about loss and conflict and identity.
BIO
Chris Rackley is a drawer and painter who experiments with video and sculpture. His work is inspired by hidden realities and has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He is a recipient of a 2018 Art(ists) on the Verge fellowship and a 2018 Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. He earned an MFA from George Mason University and a BA from Davidson College. He currently lives and works in Rochester, MN and serves on the Board of Directors and the Art Advisory Board for the Rochester Art Center.
STATEMENT
“There is no conflict,” says Darth Vader in a scene from the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. At that moment, he is unaware of the emotional struggle taking place inside him and, like the mythological god Saturn, he is unable to express his fear of losing power. Thus, like Saturn, Vader seeks to destroy his children before they can destroy him.
In an on-going series of video works and drawings, I am thinking about the connection between external conflict and internal conflict. I inhabit the hostile relationship between the fictional characters Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader by creating and dressing in costumes and staging scenes of aggression, violence, and dismemberment. By playing both characters simultaneously, the clash between parent and child becomes an internal, psychological struggle within an individual. The series explores how unacknowledged internal struggles can lead individuals towards self-destructive behaviors. Each artwork is entitled with a line of dialogue from the Star Wars films related to fear and aggression.
