HESSE FLATOW is pleased to present the opening of Hold me up, a solo exhibition of new works by SR Lejeune, marking their second solo presentation with the gallery.
SR Lejeune’s manually machined and assembled sculptures take familiar forms: three gates and a grate. Working as designed, gates and grates separate and enclose while allowing light, fluid, and air to pass. These infrastructural elements operate at the level of bodies to both regulate and produce the permeability of public and private space. As sculptures in Hold me up, they appear in their particularity, asking us to think instead about their operation, their humble procedures and minor modalities.
A solitary aluminum grate is reminiscent of those that wound the sidewalk, incising into the subterranean passages below. This one, however, rests above the floor to show its meaty side. Parts of it are polished to a mirror finish, reflecting rather than receding. Small pieces of cast pewter gum sit within it as if it were their own little stage.
Three gates form an overlapping triptych that segments the open field of the gallery. One stands on its own while two others are affixed to the walls.