La Grande, Ore. – Eastern Oregon University’s Nightingale Gallery presents “Hospitality in a World That Won’t Last,” a solo exhibition by artist Rachael Zur.
Zur’s expanded paintings blend sculptural physicality with traditional painting techniques to depict objects found in living rooms, exploring themes of grief, love, and the residue of lives lived.
The exhibition opens with a reception for the artist on Friday, November 13, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Zur’s work explores home as a way to witness what it means to be a guest in the life and death of another. The work investigates what it is to be welcomed into a place both vulnerable and sublime. In these paintings, the guest has come to say farewell. Bric-a-brac and family heirlooms crowd around the deathbed, remembering a life lived and a soul that loved. After the stillness arrives, the guest returns. The arrangement of bric-a-brac and family heirlooms remains unchanged, making the lamented feel present still. It is comforting to be welcomed into their domestic cosmos before that world must be dissolved, to be a guest one more time.
“Zur’s mixed media work invites us to consider our role as a guest in other people’s homes and lives,” said Cory Peeke, Director of the Nightingale Gallery. They encourage us to explore the remnants of a life lived and the grief and love for those lives.
Zur has had her work published in New American Paintings, as well as Friend of the Artist, Studio Visit Magazine, and Create! Magazine. She has exhibited her work nationally in places such as Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA; CHART Gallery, New York, NY; Stove Works, Chattanooga, TN; SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA; Young Space; and has artworks in the permanent collection at Soho House, Portland, OR. Zur earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Zur will present a public artist talk on her studio practice and the conceptual framework behind the exhibit. The talk will take place on Thursday, November 12, at 6 p.m. in Huber Auditorium, Badgley Hall.
“Hospitality in a World That Won’t Last” will be on view through Friday, December 11. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, follow the Nightingale Gallery on Facebook and Instagram.
To request images of artwork for publication or to schedule an interview with the artist, please contact Gallery Director Cory Peeke at cpeeke@eou.edu.
