Rich Harrington: Fissure

For many people, personal identity flows naturally from their families, the objects they grew up with, and the physical place they are rooted in. These small puzzle pieces connect to construct one’s personality and sense of self. For others, notions of self and identity are more fluid and mysterious—a sum total that is somehow different from its constituent parts. Artist Rich Harrington has spent his career grappling with his own identity and the ways it has been shaped by popular culture. Harrington digs into his early life experiences by constructing physical and metaphorical spaces to understand his own developing identity and his search for place within the family structure and society. For Fissure, Harrington revisits preconceived notions of gender roles and the popular culture that reinforces them. By appropriating imagery and text that once affirmed conventional ideas of gender, Harrington disrupts their original context, creating a conceptual fissure: a space where the dominant narrative fractures, allowing overlooked, suppressed, or alternative narratives to emerge. The fissures encourage viewers to question inherited assumptions and reconsider the cultural narratives that shape identity. About the Artist: Rich Harrington was born in Binghamton, New York. He earned a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University in 1980 and an MFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1993. From 1978 to 1979, he studied in London with the partners of Pentagram Design Ltd. and faculty from St. Martin College of Art and Design. Harrington’s work examines how popular culture shapes identity, referencing toys, games, teaching materials, and icons from his youth. Using painting, sculpture, video projection, and assemblage, he reassigns familiar images and texts to reveal alternative narratives, creating intersections of memory, meaning, and belonging.