A Narrow Passage

Noysky Projects presents A Narrow Passage, a multidisciplinary exhibition that explores themes of constriction, compression, and concealment as a way to relate to personal biographies. Abstract works from A Narrow Passage are comprised of materials that twist, turn, choke, or smother to the point of collapse, while others have approached constriction in a more gratifying way, like the euphoric sensation of pleasure derived from pain. 

Artists have used the compression of space as a visual device to relate to the body for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians wrapped the body in ornate sheaths that accentuated the unique forms of the individual, while the Japanese developed shibari during the Edo period as a way to decoratively display prisoners with bondage. Twentieth-century post-minimalists like Eva Hesse and Jackie Winsor put the body back into abstraction, using hands-on processes and tactile materials that actively rejected the impersonal qualities of the minimalists.

Some of the works in A Narrow Passage relate to the quirks of the body, straddling the line between fragility and rigidity, using irregular, organic forms. Others have used tension to reveal internal conflict, illuminating our efforts to adapt to our new political realities. 

Moreover, the works in A Narrow Passage touch on core tenets of materialism, the theory that all objects are alive because of their capacity to make a difference in the world, influencing each other in a complex web of interrelationships. These works can be seen as a bridge between animate and inanimate objects, combining to produce effects that are both dramatic and subtle.