Chris Rackley is an adjunct professor at Winona State University teaching drawing and 3-D design. His practice includes drawing, painting, video-making, and sculptural objects incorporating live video feeds that encourage viewers to observe themselves playing in uninhabited space-scapes. His work has been exhibited in several states and he regularly collaborates with Edgar Endress and the Floating Lab Collective. Since relocating to the Midwestern North, he has initiated a series of art projects in collaboration with the community that explores notions of utopia in the context of rural and small town communities experiencing rapid urbanization. He earned an MFA in painting from George Mason University.


SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2016    From the Outer Regions, Lillian Davis Hogan Gallery, St. Mary's University, Winona, MN
2015    Protoscapes, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
2013    Protosystems, Transformer, Washington, DC
2013    Ideal Lunar Landscapes, Rivermont Studio, Lynchburg, VA
2012    Behind the Sky, School of Art, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
2009    Recent Paintings, Rochester Civic Theatre, Rochester, MN


GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2015    Ardor, Watkins Gallery, Winona State University, Winona
2013    The Tale of Two Suns, Delicious Spectacle, Columbia Heights, Washington, DC
2013    Momentum, Metropolitan Art Project, Fairfax, VA
2012    Future Daze, Open Space Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2012    Elevator to the Moon:  Retro-future Visions of Space, Artisphere, Arlington, VA    
2011    Ten Second Film Festival, Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
2011    The Extended Image: A Sense of Place, Mason Hall Alumni Atrium Gallery, Fairfax, VA
2011    Graduate Student Exhibition, School of Art, GMU, Fairfax, VA
2008    Salon  300, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN


COLLABORATIONS:

2015    Land's End, with Edgar Endress, School of Art, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
2014    Excuse Me For My Razzmatzz, with Edgar Endress and Brooke Marcy, Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA
2012    Home, with Floating Lab Collective, Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, Bronx, NY    
2012    The Mask of the Shoe Shiner, with ASCHOY Collective, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC
2012    Mapping Why, with Floating Lab Collective, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC
2012    The Shrine of the American Dream, with Edgar Endress, Brooke Marcy, and Marco Moreno Navarro, Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA
2012    ReMuseum, with Floating Lab Collective, 5x5 Public Art Project, Washington, DC
2011    Floating Utopia: Mobile Art Gallery Designs, with Floating Lab Collective, Artisphere, Arlington, VA 


TEACHING:

2015 -             Adjunct Professor, Drawing and 3-D Design, Winona State University, Winona, MN
2012 - 2013     Adjunct Professor, Drawing, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
2003 - 2009     Art Instructor, Schaeffer Academy, Rochester, MN


WORKSHOPS/LECTURES:

2015    Total Arts Day Camp, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN, August 3-14
2015    Artist-in-residence, Rochester Public Library, Rochester, MN, April 11-12
2013    Presentation: The Sublime in the Work of Albert Bierstadt and James Nasmyth, Rivermont Studio, Lynchburg, VA, February 2
2011    Presenter/Panelist, Reading the Body in Contemporary Culture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, April 23


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

2015    Erin Devine, In 'Unfriendly Skies,' Bird Art Doubles as Environmental Message, Washington City Paper, November 6.
2013    Jenkins, Mark, Chris Rackley: Protosystems, The Washington Post, November 21.
2013    Bridges, Bill, “The Tale of Two Suns: Bonner Sale and Chris Rackley at Delicious Spectacle,” The Smithsonian Studio Arts Blog, August 1.
2012    Dail, Whitney, “Introducing…Chris Rackley”, interview for Jumpsuits & Teleporters, July 23.