Rachel Collier, Artist Bio

Rachel Collier is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Minneapolis. She has her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has exhibited throughout the United States, most recently with Hair + Nails Gallery and Waiting Room Gallery (Minneapolis, MN). Her recent work reflects her desire to be released from the confines of traditional painting materials. Her paintings arrange elements created from various studio practices and are imbued with a search for joy and newness. In 2020, she has introduced rug tufting to her practice and is hand-dyeing her wool and nylon.

I use the physical lexicon of mark-making and the invented math of composition to capture the excitement of an aesthetic climax or a snapshot of chaos. Representation is largely discarded, except to hold in place exploding elements, glitchy screen grabs, distorted forms, or a sudden unraveling of visual logic, like pressing a map to the dashboard to keep it from blowing out the window. My map is psychogeographical, inward, blurry, and disorienting, but I also find strength and calm in my process and trust in my destination, which can arrive suddenly, a surprise!

I’ve always been interested in making paintings without limiting myself to paint. Instead, I look for ways to interact with everyday materials in a painterly way. My recent work removes domestic functionality from conventional craft materials like yarn and fabric. I find satisfaction in sidestepping the functionality of crafted objects, using one traditional means (i.e crocheting, Fimo, marbling) to produce another traditional end (abstract painting, abstract sculpture). By resisting typical forms these materials might take, I hope to mirror the abstract painting tradition of shirking representation. Liberating both usefulness and likeness from painting invites a sense of joy and newness that I find spiritual and cathartic. The art is released from the materiality that seeks to confine it.