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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Sara Greenberger Rafferty

Dec 15, 2021 – Feb 6, 2022
4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States

The Brooklyn-based artist Sara Greenberger Rafferty was formerly a department store window dresser. Not surprisingly, the concept of retail has long fascinated her. In February 2020, at a cosmetics store, the finger marks in an eyeshadow palette caught Rafferty’s attention. Here was a way, she reflected, to tell which colors women were associating with beauty. She took a picture with her iPhone, and printed the images large, then vitrified them with powdered glass. Will retail ever return to what it was? In this exhibition, mannequins, telephones, and a large-scale mural address the digital revolution and the end of traditional shopping. —E.C.

Sara Greenberger Rafferty, “Tester Ten, 2021 and Tester Eleven,” 2021. Courtesy Carnegie Museum of Art.