Like a Cluster of Dust Charged With an Activity That Decomposes It

Lomex is proud to present like a cluster of dust charged with an activity that decomposes it, an exhibition of new sculptures by Valerie Keane. It is Keane’s third exhibition with the gallery. Assembled from strata of stainless steel, aluminum, acrylic, and fiberboard, Keane's sculptures variably appear like human proxies, formal abstractions, totems, and the products of automatic writing. She has been working with many of the same constraints for nearly a decade, and her newest pieces reference and reiterate elements and gestures drawn from her practice as a sculptor and draftsperson. In feedback with previous pieces, the five sculptures on view restate inherited motifs alongside new passages, in a manner not unlike the elaboration of a piece of music. The works are made in scale to, and limited in scope by, the artist’s body. Comprised of materials that accumulate evolving technologies of industrial production, they hover between organic and inorganic. Calling to mind medical prosthetics, biomorphic machines, and even sigils, their forms are in a constant state of flux. Taken together, they are like fragments of an obscured whole. Keane’s sculptures are produced slowly, often built from elements from older abandoned pieces and the remainders from the production of other works. Their components are bound with metal and rubber–incorporating a tension that evokes both a delicate femininity and a close-guarded evocation of their aggressive fragility, not purely as objects but as images. Suspended from single points, Keane’s sculptures shift with the evolving natural light and fracture the space as the viewer passes between them. Previously intended to violently disrupt their environments, Keane’s newest pieces are presented in varying states of disclosure and concealment. Their palettes are more nuanced and they are more attuned to their own reliefs. Moving between the works, and considering the emptiness manifest in their construction and in their framing of environment, the dynamics of the space changes, and one feels transported to an interstitial space–one marked by contrast.