In the Frame: Rachel Marks

What inspired you to create this work for Christie’s?

Rachel Marks: ‘I think it’s important not just to bring your own universe to the table, but also to think about the space you’re installing in — both its form and history.

‘I started to ask about the history of Christie’s and understood that the monetary value of an object can differ from its emotional value. Something can be so special and important but worth very little. And these personal stories really interest me. Each object that comes through Christie’s has someone’s story attached, but it’s rewritten every time someone else buys it.

‘When I create installations, I usually ask the community to bring me their books. That way, the work becomes a social portrait. Christie’s gave me some old auction catalogues. When I started looking through them, I noticed a pattern: there were so many portraits of nude women and they were all painted by men.

‘I wanted to rewrite the history of these women by liberating their portraits from these catalogues. And so this work is about telling the story of the objects that come through Christie’s, but also celebrating femininity and giving women in art history a voice.’

What ritual or routine keeps you going?

RM: ‘My work is very repetitive. It’s like a spiritual ritual. I fold the same origami shapes for each installation, yet my practice constantly evolves thanks to the fact that I am always working in a new space and on a new theme. What I love about my work is that I have an idea of what it’s going to be, but then through these rituals and meditations it always takes me to new places.’

What work of art made you see things differently?

RM: ‘Studying the Fluxus movement. Their idea that life is art, all the time, has influenced my work a lot. The collaborations between John Cage and the choreographer Merce Cunningham revealed how dance and art could coincide: the intertwining and intersection between art, dance, music and daily life is what really interests me. There’s no limit to art and its materials. David Hammons showed that even making snowballs can be art. Sharing communal experiences can be art as well, and I am always asking the public to come and be a part of my work.’

What is your favourite view anywhere in the world?

RM: ‘Wherever I am working, because I spend so much time there. Here at Christie’s, because I am working in the windows, I see all the different light that occurs. Sometimes it’s raining, or last night I stayed here until almost midnight and I was alone with the moonlight coming in. I loved it.

‘Recently, I was in Geneva for five months. As I was building an installation, I got to watch the snow on the mountains change. It helps me understand the notion of time.’

Which artists do you wish you knew more about?

RM: ‘I’m interested in getting to know more choreographers. I have some meetings soon about doing collaborations on ballet set designs.

‘Another type of art I am looking to know more about is “artivism”. Being an artist is my way of being an activist and trying to promote the preservation of nature and more harmonious communities.’

What artists are you watching right now?

RM: ‘Giuseppe Penone is an artist I really appreciate. He works with trees and uses raw material in a way that feels very organic. There is something very simple, thoughtful and spiritual about the way he works, and it influences me a lot.’

What is the most memorable show you’ve seen in the past year?

RM: ‘I saw the Chiharu Shiota show at the Grand Palais here in Paris. It was great. It included some of her monumental installation pieces that are so intimate and so feminine, yet powerful — they are like walking into a memory. But it also had some of her early work, from performance to drawing and set design. Seeing her evolution was really inspiring.’

What was the last gift you gave?

RM: ‘I gave a copy of Silence by John Cage to a gallerist I did a show with. It’s my favourite book.’

Rachel Marks’s monumental work, Palímpsēstos Florae, is on view at Christie’s in Paris at 9 Avenue Matignon until 26 August 2025