The Rachofsky House broke with tradition and invited a single artist the opportunity to respond to the space within the home. The artist was Ricci Albenda. His show titled " The Quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

First impression, The house is amazing. i use this word alot in my descriptions, you must forgive me as i can think of no other words that fits my excitment. The clean line and shifted plains of the outside architecture are delicate and comfortable. The interior was divide and shifted as well, not only in a side to side manner, but in zenith too. This gave the House a completeness and a balance that is breath taking.

I was excited to see Albenda's work. With some time spent I could see the differences between works that were almost identical. Some were painted copies of the same painting but with the left eye verses the right eye. Others were repainted at a distance, say 20 feet form the original. And still others were slight color changes, bases on adding one or the primary colors to a base of, say green. If you don't know the artist work, you should look him up. He paints words, or invented words on a neutral background. Words like "ginkgo" or "Zwack" or "squox". Some are large and are very small. Each is designed for the space that it resides. The artist is a process artist and he holds my interest with that process if not for the content.

My second impression was sadness. I really was looking forward to see the Rachofsky collection. I can go to the Internet and locate pics on flicker and google of the collection; but its not the same as seeing the works in person. The house was bare, and had a lonely modernistic feeling about it. Albenda work has slight color variations and minute changes here and there. The Rachofsky House was the prefect location for viewing his work, but on the same note, i would have preferred to see the color and variety of the Rachofsky collect.

Outside was a different story. The works of Kiki Smith, Robert Irwin, Tony Smith, and Don Graham were wonderful. Kiki Smith bench set of dental work was amazing. Entitled "Cave Bear Teeth", we sat upon them, under a tree as if around a campfire in the sunny afternoon. Robert Irwin's Tilted Planes, was amazing too. Large section of the yard were replanted on tilted planes so that the yard appeared to shift on a Hugh grid. I recommend taking the tour if you get the chance.. It's my understanding that eventually the home and collection will become part of the DMA and will be accessible through them in the future. Till then, try to get in..

http://www.rachofskyhouse.org/info.html