Art

A Sudden Blow
An exhibition at Institute 193 in Lexington, KY, comprised of two films. 
 

 Solitude, 2023, 19 min, color, sound, video.

Solitude dwells on the minor, but constant and cumulative, horrors that can infect domestic life. A woman moves through her garden, kitchen, and shower all the while being haunted; perhaps by her desire, and, almost certainly, by parallel versions of herself. She moves deliberately and absurdly, wandering unfazed through the futile rituals of daily existence. Rather than showing the home as a place of sterile security, it is shown as it truly is despite our best efforts––as gross, fecund, and cruel as the garden that surrounds it. The accompanying soundscape combines the repetitive din of both spaces, further dissolving the barrier between them and exposing their false distinction.

Mattress (Where the Fragments Met), 2023, 20 min, color, sound, video.

By appropriating the slow pans and tight focus endemic to both nature documentaries and a certain era of horror film, Mattress merges the two. Both sound and image suggest a material, jarring dissonance. A fork scrapes against a ceramic plate. Teeth come together the wrong way. Sticky flesh is coated in feathers. Expecting firm resistance, a forefinger slides through the rotten skin of a too-old vegetable. Death in daylight. The environment resists our unnatural ordering of it, its closeness and disregard for our comfort become apparent.

–Paul Michael Brown

Perceive Me As I Wish to be Seen 
An evening of films, performances and music at 21c Museum Hotel in Lexington, KY

The Many Times I've Wondered, 2023, 14 minutes, sound, color, video.