Rachelle Reichert

Region: Pacific Coast

Website: http://rachellereichert.com

City / State: Oakland, CA

Carbon and salt are the subject and medium of my work. I depict entropic processes such as crystallization and corrosion. I layer, fold, rub, and press graphite (a crystalline form of carbon) and salt to create structures, whose precarious states of transformation are recorded and amplified through sculptures, photographs, and drawings. The monochromatic drawings contain regions of loose marks balanced with passages of meticulous observation. My process is inspired by the self-organizing tendencies of the substances to stratify and form geometric structures. The graphite and salt produce an image of themselves through their physical properties. Material agency is apparent in graphite’s repulsion of water and salt’s oxidation of metal. I work with this agency to create visual ambiguity—a space where the viewer can rediscover the matter from which we originate.