Australia-born, Los Angeles-based artist Rachel Khedoori poses provocative phenomenological questions in her work that merges installation, sculpture, film and photography. Khedoori gained international recognition with her first comprehensive solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel and Kunstverein Braunschweig in 2001.
Khedoori is known for work that reinterprets the architecture of domestic spaces. She often reconstructs rooms that challenge viewers’ perceptual experience by interweaving mirrors, films and scale models into the installation. While the work is noticeably void of any representations of the figure, the viewer’s physical presence assumes the role of subject. Khedoori’s small-scale sculptures are often models, which serve as representations of imagined or hidden spaces.
Khedoori’s use of the cinematic apparatus as a sculptural form, for example the 35mm film projector, emphasizes tensions at play within her practice. The work conflates or flattens the space between the physical, built environment and the illusory realm of film, suggesting that the distinction between reality and representation have become obscured. Khedoori also utilizes books, film, and photography to symbolize the act of documentation, encouraging viewers to reconsider the conditions of reportage and representation. Her work serves as a metaphor for the instability of memory and challenges viewers to reconsider the boundary between reality and imagination.
Rachel Khedoori
Biography
Print BiographyStudied at the San Francisco Art Institute, BFA, 1988
Studied at the University of California in Los Angeles CA, MFA, 1994
Visiting Professor, Academy of Art, Malmö, Sweden, 1996
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Rochester Art Center, Rochester MN
Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany (Travelling Exhibition)
Rum, Malmo, Sweden
Group Exhibitions
University Galleries Illinois State University, 'The House of the Seven Gables', Normal IL
Lokremise, 'Human Capsules. Eight Female Artists from the Ursula Hauser Collection', St. Gallen, Switzerland
Hamburger Bahnhof, 'Architektonika', Berlin, Germany
Galerie Senn, 'You're scripted! Aspects of performance and references to film in visual arts', Vienna, Austria
CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, 'Paul McCarthy's Low Life Slow Life: Part 2', San Francisco CA
Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, 'Blickmaschinen / Visual Tactics or how pictures emerge', Seville, Spain (Travelling Exhibition)
Mücsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest, 'Blickmaschinen / Visual Tactics or how pictures emerge', Budapest, Hungary (Travelling Exhibition)
Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, 'Blickmaschinen / Visual Tactics or how pictures emerge', Siegen, Germany (Travelling Exhibition)
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 'Multiple Spaces (3) – Film – Imagination and Illusion In Art', Baden-Baden, Germany
Hamburger Bahnhof, 'Flick Collection', Berlin, Germany
Kunstverein Braunschweig, 'Jahresgaben 2004/2005', Braunschweig, Germany
Villa Arson, 'Stéphanie Calais, Rachel Khedoori, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet', Nice, France
Galerie im Taxispalais, 'Mehrfach belichtet / Multiple Exposure', Innsbruck, Austria
Kunsthaus Graz, 'Imagination – Perception in Art. Einbildung. Das Wahrnehmen in der Kunst', Graz, Austria
ZKM - Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, 'Fast Forward. Media Art Sammlung Goetz', Karlsruhe, Germany
Hauser & Wirth Zürich, 'Ten Years Galerie Hauser & Wirth', Zurich, Switzerland
Kunsthalle Basel, 'Kleine Kleinigkeit', Basel, Switzerland
Sammlung Hauser & Wirth, 'House of Fiction. Sammlung (3)', St. Gallen, Switzerland
Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 'Ich bin mein Auto', Baden-Baden, Germany
Phoenix Hallen, 'Pump Haus. Sammlung Falckenberg', Hamburg, Germany
Monika Sprüth, 'LA', Cologne, Germany
Sammlung Hauser & Wirth, 'Sammlung (1) – The Oldest Possible Memory', St. Gallen, Switzerland
Philomene Magers, 'LA', Munich, Germany
Wanas Foundation, 'Wanas 1996', Knislinge, Sweden
Bibliography
Publications
Frohe, Ursula, Haberer, Lilian (eds.), 'Kinamatographische Räume: Installationsästhetik in Film und Kunst', Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2012, p. 477, ill.
Kunsthalle Wien, Matt, Gerald (eds.), 'Western Motel: Edward Hopper and Contemporary Art', Nuremberg: Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg, 2008, pp. 186 – 195, ill. (exh. cat.)
Kunsthaus Graz (ed.), 'Imagination – Perception in Art', Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2003, ill. (exh. cat.)
Unterdörfer, Michaela (ed.), 'The House of Fiction. Sammlung Hauser und Wirth / 3', Nuremberg: Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2002, pp. 9, 88 – 89, ill. (exh. cat.)
Zdenek, Felix (ed.), 'Pump Haus. Sammlung Falckenberg', Regensburg: Lindinger + Schmid, 2001, pp. 156 – 157, ill. (exh. cat.)
Meyer-Hermann, Eva (ed.), 'The Oldest Possible Memory, Sammlung 1', Cologne: Oktagon/Sammlung Hauser und Wirth, 2000, pp. 58 – 59, ill.
Wachtmeister, Marika, Pallister, Kay C., et al., 'Wanås/S 1996', Knislinge: Wanas Foundation, 1996 (exh. cat.)
Press
Schjeldahl, Peter, ‘The Art of War in “Theater of Operations”’, in: The New Yorker, New York NY, 2 December 2019, ill.
Knight, Christopher, 'Los Angeles’ art world is bigger and wider', on: www.latimes.com, Los Angeles CA, 12 September 2014
Hirschowitz, Bianca, 'Hauser & Wirth Heads West', on: artlog.com, 12 June 2014
Griffin, Jonathan, 'LA's Art Wave: New projects, museum appointments and gallery openings point to a cresting of interest in Los Angeles-based contemporary art that is as powerful as any the city has seen', in: Art Review, London UK, May 2014, pp. 74 – 77
Gerlis, Melanie, 'Hauser & Wirth makes a big birthday look', in: The Art Newspaper, TAN 2, London UK, May 2013, p. 4, 1/1, ill.
___, 'Rachel Khedoori', in: Monopol, Berlin, no. 9, 1 September 2007, p. 134, ill.
Oberholzer, Niklaus, 'Kunst als ein bitterer Zeitkommentar', in: Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Lucerne, 2 October 2004, p. 39
Kuhn, Nicola, 'Die grosse Überwältigung', in: Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 22 September 2004, p. 25, ill.
Conrads, Martin, 'Griffith Park Elementary', in: Texte zur Kunst, Berlin, vol. 11, no. 44, December 2001, pp. 133 – 135, ill.
Reust, Hans Rudolf, 'Rachel Khedoori' (review), in: Artforum, New York NY, vol. XL, no. 2, October 2001, pp. 166 – 167, ill.
Herzog, Samuel, 'Rachel Khedoori in der Kunsthalle', in: Kunst-Bulletin, Zurich, no. 7 – 8, July – August 2001, p. 37, ill.
Herzog, Samuel, 'Was auch zum Metropolenschmelz gehört. Kunstveranstaltungen in Basel rund um die "Art"', in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich, no. 133, special supplement Art 32 Basel, 12 June 2001, p. B7 ill.
dop., 'Raumkollisionen', in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich, no. 115, 19 – 20 May 2001, p. 67, ill.
___, 'Alumni Profile', in: San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA, Spring 2001, p. 20
Smith Roberta, 'Rachel Khedoori', in: The New York Times, New York NY, 5 March 1999, p. E44
Volkart, Yvonne, 'Denkmodelle mit Witz / Graham und Khedoori in der Galerie Hauser & Wirth', in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich, 5 December 1999, p. 54
Kraft, Martin, 'City Räume & Kinomärchen / Dan Graham, Rachel Khedoori', in: Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, 14 November 1997, p. 64
Holst-Ekstrom, Mans, 'Light in Movement and Space', in: Paletten, Göteborg, no. 224, January 1996, pp. 36 – 39
Vine, Richard, 'Rachel Khedoori and Toba Khedoori' (review), in: Art in America, New York NY, October 1994
Saltz, Jerry, 'L.A. Rising', in: Art and Auction, New York NY, April 1994
Gallery Exhibitions
View allAbstract Sculpture by Women, 1947 – 2016