Sara Greenberger Rafferty (born 1978 in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

), is a

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

artist working in

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

, installation and

performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

. Her work focuses on

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

and body politics in and through

comedic Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Gr ...

performance. Rafferty teaches full-time at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

and lives and works in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Rafferty received a B.F.A. in

Photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

with Honors and Art History concentration from

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

(RISD) and an M.F.A. in Sculpture and New Genres from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's School of the Arts. Her work was included in the 2014

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

and 2014 Hammer Biennial.

Style and works

Rafferty's artworks are often large in scale, though she also works on a smaller scale, as she did with the digital photo collages created on plexiglass. These works, which did not exceed 17" by 22", were exhibited at Document in Chicago in 2017. She incorporates elements from the domestic realm and pop culture, and themes of injury and death. An example of her work with pop culture is one of the plexiglass collages which "incorporates twelve index cards scanned from the Phyllis Diller "Gag File," a collection of 50,000 written jokes of Diller's. Rafferty was part of a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in May 2016, and while she was at the Smithsonian, she had the opportunity to study items in the collection that were Diller's.

Selected solo exhibitions

*''Gloves Off.''

University at Albany The State University of New York at Albany (University at Albany, UAlbany, or SUNY Albany) is a Public university, public research university in Albany, New York, United States. Founded in 1844, it is one of four "university centers" of the St ...

University Art Museum (2017) *''Dead Jokes''. Document, Chicago, Illinois (2016) *''New Works: Dresses and Socks.'' The Suburban, Oak Park, Illinois (2016) *''Riga Repair, kim?'' Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia (2014) *''Riga Repair, kim?'' Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York (2014) *''Remote.'' The Suburban, Oak Park, Illinois (2011) *''Bananas.'' The Kitchen, New York (2009) *''Tears.'' Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York (2009) *''Sara Greenberger Rafferty''. MoMA PS 1, Queens, New York (2006). *''De/Feat and Drawings''. Sandroni Rey Gallery (Los Angeles). (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafferty, Sara Greenberger Living people 1978 births Artists from Evanston, Illinois 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists Rhode Island School of Design alumni