- Opening Reception: September 11th 2009, 6-9pm
The Box is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Rachel Khedoori in Los Angeles. In this exhibition she will be presenting two new projects; Untitled (Iraq Book Project), 2009 and cave model, 2009. The first, Untitled (Iraq Book Project), is an attempt at a documentary, in the form of a series of books that are laid out on tables for visitors to read and examine. We are proud to be the first to show this powerful piece. The second project cave model, 2009 is one of a series of sculptures that Khedoori began in 2008. These sculptures are a kind of 3-dimensional map depicting the internal shape of an underground structure. These two projects create a compelling dialogue, drawing connections between physical and mental space and time.
The Untitled (Iraq Book Project) consists of a collection of news source articles complied into large books. The articles are dated with the start date of the Iraq war, March 18, 2003 and continue for roughly six years. These articles were found by searching for the words “Iraq,” “Iraqi” or “Baghdad” in the title. The articles are formatted chronologically and are from news sources around the world, all translated into English. They are then condensed so that the articles run continuously from one to another; allowing only the bold lettering of the title, date and source of the article to distinguish one from the next. At this point there is collection of 66 books already printed that will be displayed in the gallery; they are from March 2003 to the end of 2008. However this is an ongoing project and during gallery hours the downloading and compiling of articles will continue. The gallery becomes a production site for the continuation of the piece, which can in theory go on indefinitely. This piece is not only sculptural in its volume it also represents the near impossibility of documenting something that is in constant flux, affected by time and place. This is an attempt to bring forward the vast complex of words that lay forth the indescribable.
The second project is cave model, 2009, a small-scale representation of a primitive living space. With this piece the implication is that it is a physical representation of an intangible space. The cave dips and dives, relaxes and lulls with a beautiful synchronicity that can only be entered in the viewers mind. The shapes themselves conjure passages and cavities of the brain and body, the realm of the conscious and the unconscious. They are structures turned inside out, exposing both beauty and commotion.
Rachel Khedoori was born in Sydney, Australia in 1964 and has been living and working in Los Angeles since 1990. She received her B.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute and her M.F.A. from the University of California in Los Angeles. She gained international recognition with her first comprehensive solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel and Kunstverein Braunschweig in 2001. One of the cave model series of sculptures was included in the 53rdBiennale di Venezia, “Fare Mondi/Making World” in Venice, Italy.