HOUSTON — To say that I’m drawn to Jillian Conrad’s artwork may sound like an all-too-easy pun in a overview of a present that explores drawing, however the sentiment holds. Because the early aughts, I’ve been following the psychic line of her follow. Conrad’s work marks the gap between what we see and the way we identify it, drawing connections throughout time and area.
Conrad is understood primarily for her sculptures, however her line of thought is inherently tied to drawing’s animating vitality. For What drawing might be: 4 responses, she presents an set up of 5 new works that we might usually label as sculptures, alongside site-specific works by Teresita Fernández, Tony Lewis, and Constantin Luser.
“Cetus” (all works 2025) partially levitates within the gallery, its coloured glass orbs strung alongside skinny steel necklace chains, sections of that are tethered to a bit of asphalt on the bottom, whereas others attain, drape, and collapse in squiggles on the ground. The sculpture traces the celestial constellation of the identical identify, citing Greek mythology and early types of drawing and mapping. Centered within the gallery, “Cetus” serves as an orientation system, providing navigational clues for and readings of Conrad’s different works. The chain, with its quite a few skinny but sturdy interlocking loops, is mirrored and magnified within the relaxed grid of “Letter.” This piece is fashioned by a string web suspended from the ceiling and embedded with items of hand-formed, illegible pewter letters that spell “I’d gladly spend the evening writing to you” in English on one facet and French on the opposite. The web, with its slouching, figurative type and ethereal nature, might be learn as embodying the poetics of each language and area, and a collapsing of inside and exterior.
Lots of Conrad’s works reference an occasion, a fabric life earlier than and past the gallery. “Letter” is knowledgeable by an precise handwritten correspondence from a lady to her husband in 1758, one in all 104 misplaced letters to sailors from the Seven Years’ Warfare. The ink and folded paper of the unique letters — on the time, valuable and expensive — are, like drawing itself, considering and feeling made seen, tangible. The sculpture accentuates the sort of contradictions and connections that Conrad finds irresistible, what she sees as a “reciprocity with the world” when elements grow to be entire(s), or on this case, when one thing might be discovered exactly as a result of it has been misplaced. Unbeknownst to her whereas creating the works, Cetus would’ve been seen within the evening sky to the 18th-century sailors.
Such gaps between then and now, this and that, are additionally evident in “Fork,” composed of a rose department and a small piece of brass. The piece is considerably absurd, somewhat bizarre, even humorous — parts that trace at Conrad’s surrealist tendencies. As viewers transfer via the gallery and their orientation to the sculpture adjustments, a spatial separation between the department and the brass is revealed. Right here, Conrad makes use of the psychic line as a conceptual threshold, inviting viewers to cross over right into a world of creativeness, shifting past what we see. In her artist speak, she famous that this hole evokes, amongst different issues, the part of a department held in and hidden by a chook’s beak. Though not seen to us, we by no means query its existence. I see “Fork” as a framing system for Conrad’s complete set up: a chic gesture that attracts consideration to the connection between wanting, considering, and making.
What drawing might be: 4 responses continues on the Menil Drawing Institute (1533 Sul Ross Avenue, Houston, Texas) via August 10. The exhibition was curated by Edouard Kopp, John R. Eckel, Jr., and Kelly Montana.
Editor’s Be aware: Hyperallergic’s customary picture coverage is to run images taken by our reviewers to authentically signify their expertise. An exception was made on this overview because of the venue’s restrictions on images.
