Wavelength Space is a new, contemporary, artist-run space located in downtown Chattanooga off McCallie Avenue. The gallery features themed shows that combine art from emerging to mid-career, area and national artists. Wavelength Space is dedicated to providing the Chattanooga area with thought-provoking encounters with a diverse array of contemporary art, in a range of affordable options for new and experienced collectors, said officials.
Residual Dwelling is the second show to debut this year and it will open April 17 and run to May 14. The show contains work by artists Rachael Zur (Portland, Or.), Laura Drey (Houston, Texas), Raquel Mullins (Chattanooga), and Victoria Sauer (Chattanooga). This is a show that examines the meaning of home, memories of home spaces, migration, connections to the body, and the residues of domestic space. Artists in the show question: What does home symbolize? It is a physical place? A spiritual one? Is it the place you grew up? What does home feel like? How is home made? Intricate concepts of home are explored through paintings, drawings, installation, and mixed-media works.
Review for the artists:
Ms. Zur’s expanded paintings blend sculptural physicality with traditional painting techniques. Her art practice utilizes an assortment of materials to paint on: plaster, pumice, ceramics, and fabric. The paintings depict objects that can be found in living rooms, though the architectural space itself is left undefined. Mr. Zur currently resides in the greater Portland. Or. metropolitan area with her husband and their three children.
Ms. Drey’s work explores themes of labor and movement, geography, government, and economics. The influences and experiences of family members who worked on Texas land as migrant farmers and longshoremen are the abstract narratives that inform her material choices. She weaves textiles used in the farming industry—polypropylene sacking, burlap, and twist ties—into the strands of an expansive, personal narrative. Her Mexican and American experiences and intergenerational conversations, along with my familial bonds, home, poetry, and motherhood deepen this expression. Ms. Drey is a visual artist, writer, and educator, who lives in Houston, Texas, where she was born and raised.
Ms. Mullins uses drawing, painting, and mixed-media processes to reconstruct blueprint-like works that reference her journey through over 40 places of habitation. She utilizes the house structure as a symbol for bodily experiences associated with growing older, coming-of-age, motherhood, and movement through time and space. Through the use of repetitive and ritual processes such as beading and pattern making, she uncovers the power of imagination and wonder to remedy feelings of instability. The objects and environments she depicts often allude to the peculiar nature of dreams, which balance between truth and fiction, fantasy and reality. Ms. Mullins, along with her husband Trey, is founder and curator of Wavelength Space.
Ms. Sauer approaches her painting practice in a hyper realistic manner—heavily influenced by photorealism and surrealism. Working from photographs she takes herself, Victoria uses oil paint to represent subjects that are familiar, yet slightly otherworldly, as she navigates the space between conscious and subconscious. She currently serves as the Residency Fellow at Chattanooga arts organization and residency, Stove Works, as well as co-curator of online arts collective and residency, Mineral House Media
The gallery is currently open by appointment only and reservations to opening and closing events as well as weekly visiting hours can be made via Wavelength’s Instagram page. Follow the space @wavelength_space and click on link in bio to book.