Pulling out all the stops from her practice’s repetoire, and capped by sixteen medium-to-large paintings, Amy Sillman presents a mic-drop of an exhibition under the banner: To Be Other-Wise.
Greeted by a terra cotta cherub sitting on the edge of the reception desk, head tilted up, mouth wide open, as if emitting a song, one’s attention is next taken by the stack of zines (1) next to this figure, accompanied by a sign with the legend: “Zines $1 (includes tax) Give $ to front desk person.” It is only after reading the essay accompanying the shows catalogue that one ascertains the title of this earthenware figurine–The Bored Stripper–that one gains the understanding that it is a yawn depicted. Nor is her maw to be taken as a deposit-point for a zine purchase. A real threat, as to which the signs scripted admonishment lends evidence. A subsequent diversion comes by way of a wall-mounted monitor playing a one-minute long looping animation forged from Sillman’s drawings and aurally supported by a ‘boing-boing’ otherworldly Marina Rosenfeld soundtrack, Abstraction as Ruin, 2024. Knowing of Sillman’s early, and deeply abiding allegiance to experimental film, as well as a practitioner’s respect for the written word (and printed poetics in general) it is fitting to be greeted by these two augmentations before entering the gallery proper.