BIO
Chris Rackley is an interdisciplinary artist based in Rochester, MN who integrates multiple mediums to explore memory and narrative. Rackley earned an MFA in Painting from George Mason University and a BA in Studio Art from Davidson College.

Rackley’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including shows at DeVos Art Museum (Michigan), Boston Cyberarts (Jamaica Plain), Transformer (Washington, DC) and Badischer Kunstverein (Germany). Rackley’s most recent solo exhibition was mounted at Kolman & Reeb Gallery, Minneapolis in 2023 and was generously supported by a grant from the gallery. Rackley is the recipient of two Minnesota State Arts Board Grants (2022 and 2018), a grant from Springboard for the Arts (2020), an Art(ists) On the Verge Fellowship from Northern Lights (2018 - 2019), and a McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship (2024).

During his childhood in the 1980s and 90s, Rackley’s family was relocated multiple times across South Carolina and Georgia by his father’s employer, a shoe company with retail stores in shopping malls. Rackley spent his days playing in the stockroom of the stores his father managed or wandering the malls where they were located.

Rackley is currently making tiny versions of the vast mall spaces he inhabited as a child. Relying on family recollection, social media posts by dead-mall enthusiasts, and satellite images, he painstakingly constructs miniature vignettes. These little worlds evoke nostalgia for a past cultural moment and are imbued with details specific to Rackley’s experience, addressing themes of displacement, isolation, and the fragmented nature of memory.

COLLABORATIONS + COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Rackley also periodically works collaboratively with other artists and offers workshops and creative opportunities for communities. See those projects by following the links below.

COLLABORATIONS / COMMUNITY PROJECTS