Can't Touch This; Nicolas Deshayes "Swans" Review

There is a psychosomatic, sensual effect of the glossy, smooth, and sumptuous sculptures, they beg to be touched. The spacious showroom allows for intimate observation and a private connection with each work. The space given to each work lends itself to time, as the longer you look at each work, the more familiar it seems, warmer. After moments, the works feel surreally human, and reminiscent of human innards, imposing the idea of something we are deeply intimate with, yet will never get to touch, to hold.

Amanda JamiesonFebruary 2, 2019nicolasdeshayes, modernartlondon, londoncontemporaryart, london, bethnalgreenart, bethnalgreen, swans, sculpture, sculptureartComment

Kemang Wa Lehulere's Apartheid Era School Desks

not even the departed stay grounded, Kemang Wa Lehulere’s first solo exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery, has the air full and heavy with knowing. The room is quiet and serene, save for the sound of ceremonial chanting trickling down from upstairs. The shattered fragments of plaster dogs next to the residual dust of freshly used chalk on the floor hint to a recent action, movement without account. The works have been made just this year, but they seem to whisper endless histories, narratives forgotten or ignored, desperate to be released, heard and known. In this exhibition, Lehulere has collapsed time by juxtaposing past lives and untold narratives with the tangible post apartheid unrest still prevalent in his current social, political, and familial relationships.