Chroma

Photo: Stewart Watson

Rare Device is pleased to announce our August 2016 gallery exhibition, Chroma, featuring artists Lisa Solomon and Christine Buckton Tillman. Chroma explores color theory through everyday objects. Chroma at Rare Device marks the West Coast debut of this ambitious installation that was first shown on the East Coast last year, at Gallery CA in Baltimore, Maryland.

Chroma is a large-scale crowd-sourced installation. The artists invited the public to mail in random, colored stuff no larger than a playing card. Submissions came from all over the U.S. and as far as Belgium and the U.K. From this vast collection of arbitrary and otherwise disposable items, the artists sorted the “junk.” Chroma is the culmination of arranging and compiling these materials into an orderly, chromatically-compelling piece, with the intent of elevating the viewer’s relationship with the mundane debris that we interact with on a daily basis. To bring Chroma to life on the gallery walls of Rare Device, volunteers were recruited to participate in the installation. In addition to the installation, Lisa and Christine will also show collaborative drawings they made together, and silkscreen posters and prints created especially for this exhibition. 

Christine Buckton Tillman earned her BA at Coe College, and her MFA from the University of Iowa. Christine is primarily a very flat sculptor who draws more often than she makes sculptures. Her main interests as an artist lie in ideas surrounding the handmade, celebrations, and man-made interpretations of natural forms. Christine is a member of the Drawing Center Viewing Program and Transformer Flatfile. She received a 2010 Maryland State Arts Council Grant for her Works on Paper. Urban Outfitters published an Artist Series print of hers, as well as two pillows in the last year. Lisa Solomon is a mixed-media artist based in the Bay Area. She often questions and deconstructs the meaning of identity and personal histories through the use of mediums traditionally associated with domestic crafts, particularly embroidery and crochet. A “happa” (1/2 Japanese, 1/2 Caucasian), she feels hybridization is continually at play in her work. She has exhibited her work widely, including at the Oakland Museum of California, Ulrich Museum (Wichita, KS), Koumi Machi Museum (Nagano, Japan), Walter Maciel Gallery (Los Angeles), Fouladi Projects (San Francisco), and Gallery Nicoletta Rusconi (Milan, Italy). She is also the author of Knot Thread Stitch: Exploring Creativity Through Embroidery and Mixed Media (Quarry, 2012), and illustrator of 20 Ways to Draw a Chair (Quarry, 2015). She has been an artist in residence at Irving Street Projects, Kala Institute in Berkeley, and is currently working with the Palo Alto Cultural center. Christine and Lisa first met on Flickr about ten years ago, sharing and commenting on each other’s artworks and works in progress and discovering a common affinity for color ordering. Chroma is their first collaboration.

 Chroma is on view at Rare Device from August 5 to September 6, 2016. We will celebrate the completed installation with a reception for the artists and volunteers on Friday, August 5, 6-9pm at Rare Device at our Divisadero location (600 Divisadero Street). Rare Device invites all to join in this celebration, free and open to the public. RSVP here.