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THE CROWD (ST CYPRIAN CHURCH)
THE CROWD
ST CYPRIAN CHURCH
LONDON
2017
Edel Assanti presented The Crowd, a five-day outdoor exhibition by Oren Pinhassi, held at St Cyprian's Church during Frieze London week. The spectacular Victorian church presents a dramatic context for a new body of work created by Pinhassi during his initial residency in London this summer.
The Crowd is made up of a group of freestanding sculptures that, on first impression, channel bodies: poking just above human height on slender legs, their slotted torsos suggest rib cages; bumps here and there are resolved in the composition such as feet, breasts or buttocks; the holes widen in their surfaces like the sockets of the eyes; panes of glass recede in the shadow of an arc like featureless faces. These initial signals give way to a pattern of erotic transmutation in which the object, the architecture and the body seamlessly flow with each other in a free association without borders.
Pinhassi's installations examine the relationship between the human figure and the built environment by conjuring evocative sites that intersect public and private interchange. Previous works explored bathhouses as spaces of vulnerability and sensuality, or places of cruising in nature as voyeuristic portals to erotic transformation. The sculptures in The Crowd invoke architectures of authority, incorporating features of artificial spaces designed to exert upon the individuals within them. The ceremonial setting of the Church of San Cipriano resonates through the sculptures with echoes of Gothic arches, pediments, altarpieces and the intimate space laden with confessionals. Citations from civic institutions are equally abundant: voting booths, segregation cells, institutional desks. The points of bureaucratic exchange are found in expressions of bodily desire, just as the windows involve receptive orifices.
Pinhassi's primary materials are gypsum and sand, methodically layered on welded steel skeletons. The visual sensitivity created by both the medium and the application is one of constructive ambiguity: the tactile surface advertises itself as handmade, yet the predominantly gray color and repetition of form in the group of sculptures evokes a specter of concrete modernism that is instantly belied by its voluptuousness. sensuality, urging us towards a futuristic hybridization logic. In contrast to the more architectural works there are several comparatively humanoid figures, if only because of their suggestive pastel pink coloring that guides us towards the interior space of the body.
The holes in the screens and torsos of the sculptures invite an opportunity for mediated communication. Pinhassi's new body of work questions the paradox of individual isolation in the age of hyperconnectivity. Despite their playful shapeshifting, Pinhassi's totemic figures are ultimately "alone together", lonely in their mutual separation. Physiologically linked to their own architectural constitutions, they invite us to question the environments we create as prisms through which the human experience is channeled and remodeled.
Oren Pinhassi (b.1985, Tel Aviv, Israel; lives and works in New York) graduated from the Yale School of Art in 2014. Recent solo shows include Castello San Basilio, Basilicata, 2019; Palazzo Monti, Brescia, 2019; One in the mouth and one in the heart at Skibum MacArthur, Los Angeles, 2018; Springs at the Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel, 2017; Nature Calls at RIBOT Gallery, Milan, 2017; Hanging Gardens at New Capital Projects, Chicago, 2016. Group exhibitions include For Mario at Tina Kim Gallery, New York, 2019; Four at Yossi Milo, New York, 2019; This Is Not A Prop at David Zwirner, New York, 2018. Completed residencies include Outset Contemporary Art Fund’s Bialik Residency, 2017, the Shandanken Project at Storm King Sculpture Park, New York, 2016 and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, 2014. Pinhassi has been awarded numerous prizes including The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2018; Fannie B. Pardee Prize, Yale School of Art, 2014; The Art Slant Prize, 2014; Shlomo Witkin Prize, 2011 and the Excellence Program Scholarship, Israeli Ministry of Education, 2011. Pinhassi lives and works in New York City.
Pinhassi’s installations examine the relationship between the human figure and the built environment by conjuring evocative sites that intersect public and private exchange. Past works explored bathhouses as spaces of vulnerability and sensuality, or cruising spots in nature as voyeuristic portals to erotic transformation. The sculptures in The Crowd invoke architectures of authority, incorporating features of manmade spaces designed to exert power over individuals within them. Quotations from civic institutions are equally abundant – voting booths, segregation cells, institutional desks. Points of bureaucratic exchange become expressions of bodily desire, as teller windows imply receptive orifices.
Pinhassi’s primary materials are plaster and sand, methodically layered over welded steel skeletons. The visual sensibility created by both medium and application is one of constructive ambiguity – the tactile surface announces itself as handmade, yet the predominantly grey colour and repetition of form across the group of sculptures evokes a spectre of concrete modernism that is instantaneously disavowed by their voluptuous sensuality, urging us towards a logic of futuristic hybridity. Standing in contrast to the more architectural works are several comparatively humanoid figures, if only for their suggestive pastel pink colouring that guides us towards the interior space of the body.