Gordon Hall
The Kitchen at Westbeth | 163B Bank Street, 4th Floor
Through May 31
Have you ever noticed that a pair of chairs facing away from each other evoke a body on all fours? In Gordon Hall’s new exhibition, “Hands and Knees” at the Kitchen, five such configurations form the core cast of actors. For these simply composed sculptures in vibrant colors—bright red, dark purple, light blue—the artist has removed the seats and backs of chrome cantilevered chairs, negating their customary utility as furniture and opening them to non-normative purposes. Distributed throughout the sun-flooded loft space, the works suggests submission, whether in pleasure, pain, or prayer—states that are by no means mutually exclusive.
Coming to visual art with a dance background, Hall investigates how objects invite bodily interaction, recalling the work of postmodern choreographer Simone Forti, who has explored movement in relation to sculptural constructions or props. There is also a palpable affinity between the sleek, minimal aesthetic of Hall’s work and that of Roni Horn’s paired sculptures, which, with their almost identical components, prompt an awareness of difference across objects and bodies.
