Rachel Perry Welty 24/7

Rachel Perry Welty is a conceptual artist who creates humorous and beautifully crafted work on the subject of life in the 21st century. Addressing issues that include consumerism and information overload, she uses fruit stickers, restaurant take-out containers, messages left on her answering machine, medical records, toys, and email spam as materials for her art. By drawing attention to what she calls the “business of living,” Welty reminds us to look at what we overlook and to pay attention to the momentary.

Marking the artist’s first large-scale solo museum presentation, the exhibition includes drawing, sculpture, collage, installation, video, photography, and performance works using iPhones, Facebook, and Twitter. Rachel Is, an online performance in which she documented her activity every waking minute for a 24-hour period, and Karaoke Wrong Number, a video of the artist lip-synching the voices of strangers who mistakenly left messages on her answering machine, are both included in this 10-year survey. Large-scale photographs of performative work, site-specific sculptures, and a series of collages referencing the music that plays around us as we do errands aptly titled Soundtrack to My Life, are also included. The exhibition is accompanied by an artist’s book, with essays by Nick Capasso and Stephen Merriam Foley, a cell-phone audio tour conducted by the artist, and a wide range of public programs.

Rachel Perry Welty 24/7 is organized by Nick Capasso, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, and Lexi Lee Sullivan, Koch Curatorial Fellow, the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The presentation at the Zimmerli is organized by Donna Gustafson, Andrew W. Mellon Liaison for Academic Programs and Curator.

The exhibition and related programs at the Zimmerli are made possible in part by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation with support from an endowment established by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and donors to the Zimmerli’s Annual Exhibition Fund.