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Email PageSmashed
June 5, 2008- July 10, 2008
Reception: July 5, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Gregg Hill
Serrano Contemporary / Sonnet Gallery
547 W 27th St Gregg Hill red-paint on steel |
The exhibition GREGG HILL: SMASHED will include 12 sculptures made from 30-gallon steel drums that have been crushed by a crane with a large weight. The crushed cans are called “beliefs” and are painted in bright colors that could refer to being “candy-coated.” Painted in a lush turquoise color, the sculpture Belief #43, 2008, is crushed in such a way that the folds of steel actually resemble fabric. Echoing the large barrels are small soup and tomato tins that have also been smashed and painted in bright colors.
The exhibition includes wall reliefs including Pride, Greed, Ego, Lust, 2008, and Faith, Hope, Time, Space, 2008, which are made from crushed beer and soda cans. Hill could be calling our society’s belief systems into question and asking what gains humanity has made with these systems.
Hill often uses text on the sculpture. It can refer to a spiritual thought or a comment about self identity such as “It Becomes You” or “Boy in a Dream Wakes Up” or a mantra such as “breathe in, breathe out.”
Rusted to perfection in a beautiful orange color, a 55-gallon oil drum was crushed to create another sculpture entitled breathecalmsmile, 2008. The barrel’s natural state could perhaps suggest impermanence. The graffiti on the barrel was created by Hill to mimic the graffiti he has seen on similar drums in junkyards. However, the graffiti reads “XOM FY07 40.6B” which refers to Exxon’s ticker symbol and the company’s record profits last year.
GREGG HILL: SMASHED coincides with an exhibition of the same name at 3rd Rail Gallery in New Rochelle, NY, from May 31 through June 28, 2008.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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