Nestled into a corner of the Center for the Arts (CFA) is rapture/rupture, the first art exhibit to be displayed at Luther in the 2023-2024 school year. Created by Luther College Multimedia Lead Jay Raabe, “rapture/rupture” has been displayed in the Kristen Wigley-Fleming Gallery since September 4.
“rapture/rupture” features four total pieces — and while that may not seem like a lot, each piece is created differently with reflection in mind. The first piece, “3 Adjectives”, is the largest of the four and greets guests as they walk into the space. It consists of 21 prints made with three different mediums; the prints cover a wall of the gallery and reflect the past, present, and future. Crayon rubbings of gravestones symbolize the past, polaroids reflect the present, and pictures taken with Raabe’s own personal cell phone represent the future. According to Raabe, each decision regarding media use was deliberate, but what they captured was definitely more spontaneous. Raabe explained his motivation behind the creation of “3 Adjectives”.
“We should make more arbitrary decisions instead of creating a perfect or precious moment,” Raabe said.
The next piece, “Eruption”, is a little more 3D in nature. Featuring elements such as a stop sign that he collected just down the street from his house and a piece of wood from his own garage, Raabe continues the exhibit’s theme of using items close to his personal life in his art. In the case of “Eruption”, the items encourage reflection and share messages with exhibit attendees. Meanwhile, “0m”, the third piece just nearby, looks like a simple projector glitch. It is a piece that may not be as noticeable at first glance and may confuse visitors to the exhibit, but to Raabe it’s more than it might seem to be. He also believes that the struggle to understand shouldn’t deter visitors from his art.
“[‘0m’ is] about taking one part of your life and scanning it very carefully,” Raabe said. “I like that people are like: ‘I don’t get it.’”
Finally, “The Same Sky”, a short video loop, plays on the far wall. On an inscription nearby Raabe encourages visitors to sit and watch the film in either silence or to their own soundtrack using headphones. While many enjoyed the piece by themselves, two men sat on opposite sides of the bench and watched it together. Raabe didn’t miss a beat in capturing this moment with his phone, perhaps for a future exhibit.
Raabe got to speak a little bit about his works and what the exhibit meant to him at an artist reception on September 13. As Luther’s Multimedia Lead, Raabe didn’t hesitate to access all the different technological options he had available when creating “rapture/rupture”, and to teach viewers a little bit while he was at it. At the reception, he explained the idea of art within art, how one small piece of a bigger picture might have different meaning than the entire piece was meant to have. To prove this, he invited his audience to engage by shouting out their feelings first towards a piece of art he showed, then to a cropped version of it.
Luke Smith (‘27) attended the reception and felt the exhibit and information shared by Raabe gave him a clearer viewpoint on Raabe’s art and how to appreciate it.
“It was really cool seeing a different perspective on art that I didn’t really understand at first,” Smith said. “When I first looked at [‘rapture/rupture’] I didn’t really get a lot of it, but knowing where [Raabe] was coming from actually helped [me to] take it all in.”
“rapture/rupture” will be on display in the Wigley-Fleming Gallery until October 2. Exhibit attendees are encouraged to add their names to the visitor sign-in book while they’re there. The gallery is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. More work from Raabe can be found at www.jayraabe.com, or on his Instagram, @raabestudio.
