Sabrina Raaf exhibition
2007
Chicago-based artist Sabrina Raaf works in both experimental sculptural media and photography and LIMN gallery is pleased to present “Tests People”, her most recent series of photographs.
“Tests People” is a series that comes from a future place in time where flight and controlled antigravity has been developed in humans. Its boundaries are being studied and tested. The outcome reveals an awkward struggle for the subjects to integrate these new possibilities into the strictly gravity-based architecture of their domestic environments. Tensions develop during the test period and a powerful sense of displacement takes precedent over their familiar perception of space. Aspects of real war and gaming creep in. The “home” spaces are revealed to not be real and are therefore eventually left in a state of vacancy. These large vertical and panoramic photographs are both graceful and awkward. Bodies move through the air, creating visual tensions via unexpected architectural orientations in a world of life without gravity. Although the production processes involved in the creation of these images are significant, they instinctually guide the viewer from visions of drifting into a euphoric yet anxiety-bound future. Raaf's work exposes the unspoken conflicts between society's push for technological autonomy and the struggle to retain human emotion and sensibility.
Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at the Wendy Cooper Gallery (Chicago), Mejan Labs (Stockholm), Espace Landowski (Paris), Ars Electronica (Linz), Opel Villas Foundation Art Center (R sselsheim), Artbots 2005 (Dublin), Stefan Stux Gallery (NYC), San Jose Museum of Art, and the Museum Tinguely (Basel). She is the recipient of a Creative Capital Grant in Emerging Fields (2002) and an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship (2005 & 2001). Reviews of her work have appeared in Art in America, Contemporary and other publications. This is her first solo exhibition with LIMN gallery.
“Tests People” is a series that comes from a future place in time where flight and controlled antigravity has been developed in humans. Its boundaries are being studied and tested. The outcome reveals an awkward struggle for the subjects to integrate these new possibilities into the strictly gravity-based architecture of their domestic environments. Tensions develop during the test period and a powerful sense of displacement takes precedent over their familiar perception of space. Aspects of real war and gaming creep in. The “home” spaces are revealed to not be real and are therefore eventually left in a state of vacancy. These large vertical and panoramic photographs are both graceful and awkward. Bodies move through the air, creating visual tensions via unexpected architectural orientations in a world of life without gravity. Although the production processes involved in the creation of these images are significant, they instinctually guide the viewer from visions of drifting into a euphoric yet anxiety-bound future. Raaf's work exposes the unspoken conflicts between society's push for technological autonomy and the struggle to retain human emotion and sensibility.
Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at the Wendy Cooper Gallery (Chicago), Mejan Labs (Stockholm), Espace Landowski (Paris), Ars Electronica (Linz), Opel Villas Foundation Art Center (R sselsheim), Artbots 2005 (Dublin), Stefan Stux Gallery (NYC), San Jose Museum of Art, and the Museum Tinguely (Basel). She is the recipient of a Creative Capital Grant in Emerging Fields (2002) and an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship (2005 & 2001). Reviews of her work have appeared in Art in America, Contemporary and other publications. This is her first solo exhibition with LIMN gallery.
