Sometime in the early 7th century, in a small village along the Sea of Galilee, a village that would only shortly be overrun by war, the Byzantine mystic Perfidus called his assistant into his courtyard. Along the ground he had lain out a collection of small stones, balls of knotted string, feathers, and bits of fur, all in a seemingly random order. His assistant observed the scene with a kind of agnostic skepticism, as he was tired of these old Hellenes and their perpetual doomsaying. The passage of large numbers of troops past the town’s walls was an omen enough. But, as he stood out in the courtyard, he heard the cries of a flock of waterfowl moving further inland, and watched as the objects strewn across the ground rolled and gathered themselves into a series of strange and unfamiliar forms.
“On all fours” is an installation of three metal sculptures made by the Dutch-born artist Marlous Borm. Presented in a kind of alcove on Gansevoort Street, the entirety of which is viewable from the sidewalk at any hour of the day, as the lights remain on 24/7, the three sculptures intentionally bring to mind the structure of a single character of a forgotten language. They remain in a careful tension with their environment. The sculptures themselves are comprised of joined iron crowbars. Most people, or at least people in New York City, will rarely use a crowbar (crime rates are at their lowest in years) but will always recognize one. In this case, the three sculptures’ iron forms appear as unusually anatomical. Viewed from the street, late at night, while one stumbles through the Meatpacking district, they arrive like sigils with an uncertain proposition.
-Alex Shulan, August 2014
55 GANSEVOORT is pleased to announce the opening of On All Fours, a solo exhibition of new sculpture by Marlous Borm. The show will be on view from July 17th through August 5th, at the gallery’s storefront location.
Marlous Borm is a Dutch artist based in New York City and Berlin. She holds a BA from Gerrit Rietveld Academie and attended the MFA program at Bard College. Her work has been exhibited at 247365 in New York, Paradise Garage in Los Angeles and Cleopatras in Berlin.Borm co-curated 'Evas Arche und der Feminist' at Gavin Brown Enterprise and at 'The Front Room' at Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis.
The exhibitions at 55 Gansevoort are entirely visible, at all hours, by peering through the windowed doors.
